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speak for most of us. I have learnt so muchfrom my colleagues and I am still on thatjourney. Cricket has provided me with a lifetimeof enjoyable experiences and I hopethat I will be able to continue to inspire,mentor, support and celebrate umpires andscorers.“I am so very grateful and privileged.Thank you.”RUNNERS-UPDeborah BurnsDeborah became aqualified memberof the Associationof Cricket Officialsin 1982 and sincethen has spentthousands of hourssupporting andchampioning the role of officials withinMiddlesex.She was appointed the Middlesex ACOEducation Officer in 1992 taking on the responsibilityof arranging, administering andrecruiting candidates for 100+ courses duringthis period. In addition to this role, shehas personally tutored and mentored the candidateson and off the field and has been thego to person for the Board.She is also a keen umpire, umpiring ladiesmatches at every opportunity and also assistingthe MCC in this role whenever required.She has been a favourite for many teams andis a true inspiration for others to take up umpiring,she has had an incredible influenceon ensuring men’s and women’s cricket isofficiated by qualified ACO umpires and alwaysadvocates the highest possible standards.Unfortunately Deborah has had to retirefrom her role within the ACO this year dueto the ill health of her husband. Despite this,she is still umpiring and playing a key rolein mentoring and assisting the new committeeto ensure her standards are maintained inthe future.Alan EnglishAlan has held the post of Education Officerfor the Bucks Association of Cricket Officials(formerly BACUS) for the last fifteenyears. Throughout this period, Alan has organisedall the Bucks winter courses for umpiresand scorersand has personallyinstructed atleast one courseevery year.Alan’s preparationis outstandingand the highstandard of his tutoringis reflectedin the above averagepassesachieved by Bucks umpires in the ECB examinations.Alan is often the one who volunteersto travel the longest distances to the farend of the County and this is typical of hisdedication to the role.During the summer season Alan spendsmuch of his time mentoring and assessingnewly-qualified umpires. Recently, thiswork has extended to working with youngofficials from other counties at regional andnational festivals. A large number of currentBucks ump ires and scorers who officiate inBucks matches at all levels are products ofBACO courses and all owe a debt of gratitudeto Alan and his team.Best Practice: An Insight intoLevel 3 UmpiringMatti Watton of Middlesex runs through his technical report titled‘Dealing with Unacceptable Behaviour in the Professional ArenaAt their October meeting, the Ealing & District ACU&S wasgiven the opportunity to observe two Level 3 researchprojects. ECB ACO was delighted to hear that Matti Wattonand Paul Nicholls were keen to share their knowledge withtheir local association. This is a great example of ContinuousProfessional Development in practice that we fully support andendorse more of.Matti Watton began by explaining the general principles of the Level3 Course, including the emphasis on personal development and learningfrom other sports. The Pilot had comprised 6 modules, completedover 18 months to two years, looking at self, match and conflict management,colleague co-operation, difficult decision making and limitedovers cricket. Assessment of candidates was based on a technicalreport in essay form and a presentation.The first of these technical reports entitled ‘Dealing with Pressure’was presented by Paul Nicholls who asked, “What if it all goeswrong?” “We’ve all been there, you’ve just given one LBW and thenext ball ploughs into the striker’s pads, there is an even louder appeal!Technically both balls look the same – can you easily give thesecond one out too? Under pressure do you ‘hold or fold?’ How doyou cope?”Everyone has their own ‘coping style’ Paul declared, with the emphasison style rather than strategy, a too rigid term. He put forwardthe idea of a ‘mental bin’ where any decision right or wrong shouldnot be dwelt upon; “Put it in the bin, forget about it for now, but revisitlater, at an appropriate time”.Looking to other sports Paul had collected evidence of how refereescope with pressure. It is important to cultivate a personal relaxationtechnique with each official building a model that suited him or her.Deep breathing techniques and positive body posture are important, asis having an effective concentration technique focused by positiveself-talk.Positive self-talk involves remaining focused and calm; if there is aproblem realise it, put it in the bin and work on it in the future. Avoidnegative self-talk – ‘What a stupid thing to do’ or ‘I’ve blown mychances now’!In summary Paul emphasised an umpire’s need to exhibit positivemindset and body language and to develop and maintain a consistentstyle.Matti Watton’s technical report was entitled ‘Dealing with UnacceptableBehaviour in the Professional Arena’ and was based on a DevelopmentPlan and information from other sports. Studying personalitytypes had helped him understand how he might deal with certainsituations and to realise how players with different profiles might seethings differently. The need to understand the perspective of professionalplayers was emphasised as well as the importance of not focusingon being popular, but on gaining respect.Matti then looked at the experience of football referees and strategiesthey used when controlling players and at rugby referees whowere ‘miked up’ during matches. He found that the good referees usedclear communication, effective body language and good positioningskills. Use of specific language aimed at inclusivity is important, such‘we’ not ‘I’ e.g. ‘we think’ or ‘we need’ where ‘we’ = ‘the game’ or‘all the people here’ and use of ‘be careful’ when not quite sure whathas happened – but you know it is not quite right!Matti concluded by highlighting ‘Preventative Officiating’ i.e. praisingplayers when appropriate and working to develop a rapport withplayers, including knowing who will be in a match and what issuesmight have arisen in the past so that they may be avoided. However inthe following Q&A he stressed the importance of not being too familiarwith players you know well, especially if you only know one side.Finally, Paul Nicholls’ single most important piece of advice was tokeep physical and mental control of yourself at all times, don’t seektrouble but deal with it when needs be.Ealing & District ACU&S, Oct 2012.Editor Note: Level 3 candidates are nominated by their ACO. It is theRegional Performance Officers responsibility to collate and presentthe case for the nominees to the national Performance Committeewho have the final say. It is hoped that County ACO’s and Leagueswill put on Level 3 modules locally to maintain ECB ACO’s desire tobe inclusive by providing ‘Education of all’.e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 10 contact us on 0121 446 2710
History of the Umpiring SignalSix months ago, we received an email from a curious member. “Do you know how the signalswere developed into those that we use today?”After a search of the internet it became apparent that we were going to struggle to find a suitableanswer, therefore we asked the MCC Laws department who pointed us to Neil Robinson, MCC’sResearch Officer, who has supplied us with the following information. A special vote of thanksgoes to him.How the library of umpire signals was determined appeared to be unknown, until now…it all beganin 1892…1892: The 1892 issue of the Laws in Wisden(1890 code) states: “An umpire has to count theballs delivered, signify to scorers whether any ofthem are wides, byes, leg-byes or no-balls.” Thismakes no mention of the nature of these signals,however. The ‘Instructions to Umpires’ issued bythe MCC Committee as an appendix to the Lawson June 20 th 1892 make no mention of signals atall.1899: The extension of these instructions issuedduring the 1899 season dealt with declarations andagain made no mention of signaling.1901: The minutes of the MCC Committee meetingheld on January 7 1901 include a call for thedrafting of a code of signaling to be appended tothe Instructions to Umpires.There is no further mention of the code within theminutes, but FS Ashley-Cooper in Feats, Factsand Figures of 1901 relates that “During the seasonof 1901 the committee of the M.C.C. alsodrew up a “Code of Signaling” for umpires.”1902: The 1902 issue of the Laws published inWisden included a revised and extended list of instructionsto the umpires, which included for thefirst time the “code of signaling”:➔➔➔➔➔➔➔➔➔“Boundaries” shall be signaled by waving thehand from side to side“Byes” shall be signalled by raising the openhand above the head.“Leg byes” shall be signaled by raising theleg and touching it with the hand.“Wides” shall be signaled by extending botharms horizontally.“No-balls” shall be signaled by extending onearm horizontally.The decision “out” shall be signaled by raisingthe index finger above the head.Umpires should wait until a signal has beenanswered by the scorer before allowing thegame to proceed.Besides signaling the Umpire should “Call”distinctly for the information of the players.On giving a decision the Umpire should makesure that the batsmen understands [sic] whatthe decision is.There is no attribution or date attached to thiscode. Both the original instructions to umpires issuedin 1892 and all other subsequent amendmentsto these have the exact date they were passed bythe MCC Committee attached to them in Wisden.Part 2: Other sources1886: The Theory and Practice of Cricket byCharles Box (1868), contains extensivenotes on the Laws and their interpretation,but only one mention of signals:“The calling of a “leg-bye” is usuallyperformed by the umpire putting hishand to his leg, or lifting the leg up.”This suggests rather an informal practicethan anything else.1870-71: The Australian Cricketers’ Guide 1870-71 contains a section Hints to Umpires,which mentions only the following:“Leg-byes should be called aloud to thescorers, by the umpire at the bowler’swicket, as soon as the run is made. Thebowler’s umpire, also, is the properparty to give notice by byes to the scorers– best done by holding up the hand.”No other signals are mentioned in thisshort work. Again, the tone is one of advice,rather than injunction, and the implicationis that no formal code existedat this time.1897: Cricket by WJ Ford (1897) containsmore description of signals on p.74:“Umpires have a code of signals bywhich they communicate with the scorers.Thus, a bye is signaled by holdingup the hand; a leg-bye by touching orlifting the leg; a boundary hit by wavingone arm horizontally; and a wide bywaving both. A no-ball and a short run,being loudly called, require no signal.The scorer answers and acknowledgessignals by holding up his hand.”Conclusion:Comparing WJ Ford with the 1902 Code in Wisden,it seems apparent that before 1901 umpires hadevolved an informal code of signals among themselves,which was restricted to byes, leg-byes,boundaries and wides. When MCC first codifiedumpiring signals in 1901 it added signals for ‘noball’and ‘out’, although whether these were new inventionsor had become part of the informal codesince 1897 is open to speculation. No minutes existfor the Cricket sub-committee of this period, but itis possible that correspondence on the issue may berevealed during the further cataloguing of the MCCarchive in 2012-13.Dead Ball signalFour signalOut signalSix signale-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 11 contact us on 0121 446 2710
Page 1 and 2: ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET OFFICIALSNEW
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Page 5: ALL SESSIONSYou vs Hawkeyewritten b
Page 8: Awards and RecognitionHonorary Life
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