COUVA, Trinidad – The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) successfully held a two-day Umpiring Workshop which concluded on Sunday at the National Cricket Centre, Balmain, Couva.Four females umpires – Kenalyn Baker from Guyana, Barbadian Valerie Mahon, Leona Thomas of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica’s Jacqueline Williams – joined two dozen of their WICB second tier, male colleagues benefiting from the workshop.
Project Officer – Cricket Operations of the WICB, Rawl Lewis, was pleased with the outcome of the workshop.
“It went very well. It was very informative, David (Levens) was the facilitator and he is the ICC Umpire coach. The guys really enjoyed it because it was a mixture of classroom sessions and practical sessions on the field and I thought went really, really well,” said Lewis.
The former West Indies player explained that the main goal of the workshop was to address the standard of umpiring in the region and provide umpires with the tools so they can officiate at the highest level.
“It is all about improving the standard of umpiring in the West Indies. Umpiring has moved in a direction where you have to be an all-rounded individual to become an umpire at the top level so we want to groom our guys and create a pathway and assist them to see if they can achieve the top level of umpiring,” said Lewis.
He was encouraged by the response from female umpires and hopes to see women officiating at the regional and international levels.
“We want to incorporate female umpires with the men in the West Indies because there are females out there that are very much interested in umpiring and can’t be left behind.
This was the first session for them and we are hoping to include them when we have matches in the respective territories. They can be part of the umpiring process, observe, understand the routines and learn what umpires normally do,” Lewis noted.
The former Windward Islands captain was adamant that umpiring is a viable avenue for people who love cricket to make a positive impact.
“You can make a career of being an umpire. This is one area a lot of people who would have tried their hand at cricket and probably did not really succeed can thrive.
“If you know the game and you are interested in the game there are many other areas you can target … scorer, umpire, match referee. So all areas of cricket should be developed and umpiring is only one and I am happy to see it is taking the right path,” said Lewis.