New umpire recruits ahead of season

The North West Umpires & Scorers Association have registered seven new recruits ahead of the 2020 season following a recent training programme held in the White Horse Hotel.

Former Irish International Julie Logue is a particularly welcome addition as the Union tries to increase participation among its women members. Julie is joined by a trio of players with a wealth of Premier Division experience between them in Mark Simpson, Niall McDonnell and Stephen Dunn.

Vanshidhar Matam, Andrew McNeill and Alan Bell make up the new group, with NWCU Umpire Training Officer Dermot Ward confident that all of them can play their part in the coming seasons.

“It’s always great to be able to add to the numbers of available umpires, especially now when the shortage is so critical. It’s a strong group this year and hopefully they will be available to do plenty of games between them.”

“Umpiring is a hard sell at present, however it is a really good way to put back into the game. There are fantastic opportunities out there for anyone looking to take it on seriously. You only have to look at the success of our own Roly Black who this week umpired the semi-final of the under-19 World Cup, televised live on Sky TV.

We have been very well supported by the North West Cricket Union in the past number of years and recent meetings with them has made it clear that the two organisations will be working together to try to ensure that our numbers grow again over the coming seasons.”

From a Union perspective, Brian Allen insisted that work would continue to attract and support new members into the umpiring fraternity.

“Our commitment is to ensure that the structure is in place to bring umpires into the youth and club environment. We will continue to work with the Umpires Association to ensure that training packages and game time is available to allow new members to progress into that pathway.

I have no doubt that this season’s new members can bring plenty of knowledge and experience into the role.”