Aspiring local umpires can learn from two of the best

World-renowned umpire Ian ‘Gunner’ Gould and elite match referee David Jukes are coming to the island to facilitate the European Umpire Development Workshop 2024, which will see more than 20 officials from around half a dozen nations in attendance at the Guernsey Cricket-hosted event from 23-25 February.

As part of the weekend, the Guernsey Association of Cricket Officials are also inviting any locals interested in get involved with either umpiring or scoring to take part.

‘The ICC has a mission to improve the quality of umpiring across the world,’ said Guernsey Cricket interim chief executive Carl Brooks.

‘The European region hold events with that in mind and it has fallen to Guernsey to host that workshop in February, but what we have done is decide not to just run the formal ICC event, but also to run some beginner sessions for locals.

‘We are keen to get as many people interested in umpiring and scoring to come along and get a taster.

‘We would like to grow our pool and this is a good opportunity to come along in a relaxed environment – there are no formal assessments.

‘We will be spending some time with the elite umpires, but also breaking off to do introductory sessions.’

ICC umpire Heath Kearns from Jersey and his wife Gina, a qualified scorer, will also be lending a hand during the workshop.

Brooks added that players nearing the end of their careers might be among those looking to branch into officiating.

‘For retiring players, if you want to still contribute to the game, one of the best ways is umpiring – it gives you the best seat in the house, so to speak,’ he said.

‘Being in Guernsey, the chance to become a good enough umpire to do international games is very much on the cards and the route is actually quite quick.

‘We do an induction and once you have shown you understand the laws of the games, which is very straightforward stuff that just proves you have been on the course, you can start out doing EL2 or EL3 games with an experienced umpire and go on from there. It is a coaching and mentoring set-up.’

The European Umpire Development Workshop 2024 will be based at the Farmhouse, starting with a welcome buffet on Friday 23 February before the workshops for umpires and scorers take place from 9.15am-5pm the following day.

There is a dinner on the Saturday evening, which will include a Q&A with Ian Gould, starting at 7pm. Tickets for the dinner only are available at £45.

• For more information workshop and the dinner, contact gaco@guernseycricket.com.