ACO NEWSLETTER - Ecb - England and Wales Cricket Board

Where are they now?Michael CornwellAfter previously focussing on Geoff Lowden, former ACU&SChairman, we turn our focus to Michael Cornwell, former DeputyChairman of the ACU&S.I joined the ACU&S in 1995 through theArmy and took up membership with theNorth Wilts ACU&S, although took two attemptsto pass the written exam. Havingpassed the exam, I stood as an umpire withinthe Army and initially in Wiltshire beforeprogressing on to the West of England PremierLeague’s Feeder Divisions. In 1997 Imanaged to pass the oral exam and became afull member of the ACU&S in 1999. In thesame year I was asked by the Army to considerbecoming an ACU&S instructor. I attendeda probationary instructors’ coursewhere the tutors included Graham Cooperand Sally Pitman. Under the watchful eyesof John Dimery (Bristol) and Peter Beard(Royal Navy and Hampshire) I managed toprogress from a probationary instructor to asenior umpire instructor and enjoyed bringingon new talent in the Army and Wiltshire,having taken over in the county from the redoubtableteam of John Archer and AlanWarren.In 2000 I was asked to consider becomingthe Chairman of North Wilts ACU&S andwas duly elected at the AGM. In the sameyear I took over the instructional side forumpires in Wiltshire. In 2004 on the retirementof John Dimery I was electedDeputy Chairman of the South region ofthe ACU&S and managed to pass thescorers’ standard examination at the secondtime of asking (notice the themewith exams).The political infighting in 2005 withinthe ACU&S came to a head with a meetingbeing chaired by Lord Griffiths ofGovilon MC, at which Geoff Lowdenwas appointed Chairman of the ACU&S,Keith Say, the Treasurer and for reasonsbest known to the committee and I becamethe Deputy Chairman. Under GeoffLowden’s leadership the financial situationwas gradually made more settled andthen began the process to see how the Associationcould progress. To this day I donot think that Geoff has been given thecredit he deserves for his leadership inthose turbulent times; certainly few peoplerealise the strain the pressure of thepost placed on his health.Once it had been decided by theACU&S membership and ECB that anamalgamation would be good forcricket it was relatively easy within thecircles my umpiringwas involved with to getthe new structure set upwithin Wiltshire. Boththe North Wiltshire andSouth Wiltshire ACU&Swere associations decliningin number and relianton the same peopleeach year holding office.A year before the formationof ECB ACO bothNorth and South Wiltswere talking of merging,the formation of ECBACO merely acted as acatalyst and it enabled Wiltshireto start with a completely clean sheet. Ipersonally felt that as I had been part of theACU&S hierarchy structure it would be betterif I did not stand for office within thenew county set-up though I was happy tocontinue my role as a tutor.It was in 2007–08 I had decided to reducemy umpiring commitments. I had been fortunateto reach West Of England PremierLeague status, but with additional responsibilitiesas the village cricket club groundsmanI was now restricted to how far I couldtravel after I had finished the pitch preparations.Moving down to the lower echelons ofthe feeder leagues would also allow me touse the newly acquired skills of being an assessorby acting as a mentor to my colleague.I had been privileged to witness thescheme when Roy Kinner offered umpires tothe Army Inter-Corps matches, which benefittedthe Army by having sufficient umpiresand allowed Roy to mentor his Berkshireumpires. In Wiltshire, under Tony Hemmings’guidance, we have embraced the observation/assessmentprocess and we can seethe benefits to our colleagues, though IIt’s not only decisions we stretch outadmit sometimes from the captains reportsone could be forgiven for thinking we wereat different matches.What have I got out of all of this is simplybeing involved with cricket, a game I haveplayed and loved since the age of 8, but umpiringhas enabled me to enjoy the game to afar higher standard. I have the best seat inthe world to watch the battle of wits andskill between a bowler and a batsman.Whilst I obviously do not stand at such ahigh level now, the pleasure comes frombringing on the next generation, beit by tutoring, mentoring or conductingoff the field assessmentson level two umpire candidates.I have to thank the ACU&S forgetting me started as an umpire andsetting me off on the instructionalroute, Geoff Lowden for saving theACU&S from imploding and ECBACO for the modern structure wehave in the tutoring and observationroles to enable umpires toprogress as far as their talents willallow them.e-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 20 contact us on 0121 446 2710