Umpiring – Part 2

June 14, 2021

Umpiring and officiating are pivotal in ensuring that matches can go ahead week in week out throughout the cricket season. Female umpires are a significant minority currently and we hope that with the increase in female cricketers, more women and girls will become inspired by the likes of our two spotlights, Candy and Lisa, to get involved and give umpiring a try.

 

This spotlight is the second of a two-part spotlight on umpiring and officiating cricket. In this spotlight, Lisa Jones explains how she got into umpiring in a cricket-centred family and the support that her club, Felixstowe & Corinthians CC, gave her in doing so.

 

 

A lady umpire! You don’t see many of those!

How come I became an umpire, well I suppose my husband is to blame. When we had two daughters I thought I was safe, but no my husband was very clever and got them playing cricket. However, he would often be coaching or playing so it fell to me to take them to matches. This was my first experience of umpiring, as often the opposition would ask if there was anyone free to umpire and I’m just not very good at sitting still. So I started umpiring junior matches and you quickly learn the basics but without the pressure of adult players sometimes questioning your decisions.

When my club started up a ladies section, I was happy to learn to play but as my fellow players knew I had done some junior umpiring, I would often get asked to umpire as well. It was at this point I decided I wanted to understand more of the technicalities of umpiring and so attended a ladies only course. It really helped me to understand the role of the umpire as well as the decision-making process.  But more importantly it gave me the confidence to want to be a better umpire. I can honestly say in the early days, I wasn’t a great umpire and made some errors of judgement but I made sure I learned from them. I would ask more experienced umpires for advice but also l realised I just need to take my time and not feel rushed into making a snap decision.

 

I still mostly umpire juniors and ladies matches and I have done a couple of girls county matches. I haven’t yet umpired a men’s league match but that is mostly due to the length of their game and finding the time to do it. I am confident in my knowledge now that I could umpire a men’s match if it was needed.

 

What I also found is that it has helped to make me a better player. Umpiring has given me a much broader knowledge and greater understanding of the game. My hope is that when my playing days are over, it will mean that I can still be involved in the Playing side of the game (and not have to make the teas).

 

 

For more information on umpiring opportunities in Suffolk and East Anglia, please contact Lara Neild or visit the umpiring section of the ECB website.

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