Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Members Meeting scheduled for 24th March has been cancelled.

We hope to rearrange the meeting for a time when circumstances allow.

Congratulations to WCACO Membership Services Officer, Sue Redern, who has been appointed to the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.

She has been appointed to umpire three group games:
22 February – Sri Lanka v New Zealand;
29 February – India v Sri Lanka;
2 March – Sri Lanka v Bangladesh

Chris Kelly, the ECB Umpires Manager, spoke at our WCACO members meeting at Edgbaston on 4th November, giving us an insight into the umpires pathway from recreational level to the ICC Elite Panel.

The meeting was asked to, and came up with a number of characteristics that define a good umpire, and explored how they could be applied to different situations. Some of these characteristics were calmness, assertiveness, empathy, communication, teamwork, awareness, dealing with pressure, and knowledge of the laws and regulations. The meeting then learned about how the umpires define their own criteria against which they should be judged, and how the ECB assesses their umpires at first-class level against these standards and identifies ways in which they could improve. Finally, Chris took a number of questions about specifics and particular matters relating to the development of umpires. It was a thought-provoking evening that generated a number of ideas for things WCACO itself could do to help develop the standards of umpiring within the area.