GCB, GCUC host two-day umpires’ workshop

By Avenash Ramzan

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in partnership with the Guyana Cricket Umpires Council (GCUC) on Friday morning commenced a two-day workshop for local cricket umpires. It is geared to give the officials a refresher on the important aspects of umpiring.

The workshop, which will take a break tomorrow (Saturday) for the national holiday and conclude on Sunday, is being held at the Union Building on Woolford Avenue, Georgetown.

Being conducted by several instructors in the field of umpiring, the workshop focuses on, among other things, third and fourth umpires’ duties, umpires’ confidence, playing conditions, advice and protocol, match management, code of conduct, field techniques, best practices and routines.

President of the GCB, Drubahadur, welcomed the move to have a workshop of this nature, as according to him, it can only serve to better the level of umpiring locally and beyond.

“Forums like these will actually assist the umpires in better understanding their roles and understanding how they should keep command of the game, and to work closely with the Match Referees, and at the end of the day we should have less disputes,” Drubahadur said.

Guyana’s lone current international umpire, Nigel Duguid, who is also the Secretary of the GCUC, said the workshop forms part of the development process for local umpires.

He pointed out that the profession encompasses a broad area of duties, unlike popular opinion that the umpire’s role is solely to make on-field decisions.

“There are other areas that help to make you a good umpire- match management, teamwork, the way you control the game and the players also. The players must have some respect for you and vice versa, so this two-day seminar is an area we want to address with the umpires locally,” Duguid explained.

Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, Anand Sanasie, who is also an active member of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Sub-Committee for Umpires and Match Referees, told the gathering that umpiring is fast becoming a professionalised service in the sport, whereby the officials are being handsomely remunerated.

“The whole idea is to have the officials, not only umpires, being paid at a level so that they can take it up as their first profession rather than everyone having it as a part-time job,” Sanasie pointed out.

Sanasie further stated that territorial boards must work closely with umpires to develop their skills, as the GCB is doing with the local umpiring body.

He added that while Guyana currently has only one international umpire and five on the B Panel, the aim is to consistently churn out umpires of a high standard.

“My idea for Guyana’s cricket and for the umpires is that as much as possible as we develop the coaches and so on, we must develop the umpires to a higher level. The idea of putting in younger umpires and having them a longer time up at the time so that they have a chance of getting up there where Duguid is, and even higher, would be greater,” Sanasie reasoned.

Photo caption: GCB and GCUC officials (seated) with some of the participants at the opening ceremony on Friday morning (Photo: Avenash Ramzan)