Association of Cricket Officials Issue 28 | Page 2
TEAM SHEET
ACO Management Committee
Vacant – Chairman
Vacant – Deputy Chairman
David Bird – West Midlands
Terry Burstow – South Central
Les Clemenson – South West and Wales
Peter Hinstridge – East
Peter McKenzie – East Midlands
Sid Poole – London
Philip Radcliffe – North
Ed Shuttleworth – ICC Europe
Nick Cousins – Head of ECB ACO
Bruce Cruse – Head of Participation
Chris Kelly – ECB Umpires’ Manager
Fraser Stewart – MCC
ECB ACO Executive
Nick Cousins – Head of ECB ACO
Glyn Pearson – Education Manager
Hamish Grant – Finance, Administration and Projects Officer
Ben Francis – Customer Marketing Manager (ACO)
John Overton – National Growth Executive (ACO)
Martin Gentle – Membership Services Manager
Karen Cassidy – Membership Services Officer
Phone – 0121 446 2710
Email – [email protected]
ACO Management Subcommittees
Education
Scorers
Performance and Development
Appointments and Grading
Addresses
ECB Membership Services Office
Warwickshire CC Ground
Edgbaston
Birmingham B5 7QX
ECB ACO
Lord’s Cricket Ground
London NW8 8QZ
The Cricket Umpires and Scorers Trust
(Available to ECB ACO and members of
the former ACU&S)
Enquiries/requests should be addressed to:
The Chairman
The Cricket Umpires and Scorers Trust
c/o JF Rushton
77 Moatbrook Avenue
Codsall
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV8 1DJ
Or, email [email protected]
The trustees cannot guarantee to meet every request,
but each will be given due consideration.
Magazine Editor
Ben Francis
[email protected]
Photography © ECB ACO and Getty Images unless otherwise stated
Designed and produced by
Coachwise Creative
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Change Is Good!
Some thrive and others will resist,
but change can teach us to adapt
and help us develop resilience, but
only if we understand our capacity
for growth and learning.
I want to begin by thanking you for giving such a ringing
endorsement to the changes to the Constitution that you
voted for so overwhelmingly immediately after Christmas.
The Over and Out messages that have been sent out by email
have confirmed the outcomes and kept you informed of
progress since, in terms of changes to structure and
personnel. There is also more detail elsewhere in this
magazine, so I will not dwell any further here. Suffice to say
that the importance of officiating (umpires and scorers) in
creating ‘outstanding experiences in our clubs’ has been
re-emphasised and is now a key strategic priority for the ECB
in particular and cricket in general across England and Wales.
Moving inside the ECB tent enables us to form stronger
partnerships with other aspects of cricket. This has a number
of elements, but at its core is the intent to grow significantly
the number of officials in the game, whilst providing our
Association with the benefits of the additional expertise that
has been brought into the business in the participation,
marketing, systems and membership support department.
Of course, I am not naïve, and recognise that in all cases
actions speak louder than words, and, to add another cliché,
the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. But I am as
confident as I can be that we are entering an exciting period
in the ACOs evolution, which could reap huge benefits.
As always at this time, everybody in the core volunteer
workforce has been busy in the training of our scorers,
umpires and assessors. With the advent of the new Laws
being the main catalyst, the latter part of 2017 will see us
launch a completely new portfolio of training courses
(Levels 1–4), having examined thoroughly both the content
and the context of each element of our current programme
and looked to see how we might improve our offering.
We need to take care not to initiate change for changes
sake, but I think that everybody accepts the basic premise
that our umpire courses need to concentrate more on
teaching more field craft (how to umpire) and less on basic
laws (what to umpire) accepting that there is always a
balance to be maintained. Similarly, our scorer courses need
to recognise the importance of newer methods of scoring:
both using a computer or an app on a tablet or a phone.
While learning to book score undoubtedly teaches the
essential basics for all scoring using whatever mode, we need
to be open to the suggestion that learning to book score
may not be the sole methodology of introducing scoring to
prospective practitioners.
In essence, the umpire training courses will remain
chronological and progressive, but be renamed to match the
numerical levels that we have all been used to. Thus, the first
entry level course will be called the Club Umpire and, while still
designed to give an overview of the basic Laws of the game
and how to apply them, it will concentrate more on introducing
principles of field craft and match management. The intention
is that this course will provide the basic tools to enable an
attendee to umpire matches at those recreational levels of
cricket where there are no independent umpires appointed.
The second level will be called League Panel Umpire and is
email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710