Association of Cricket Officials Issue 28 | Page 7

All these positions are vital to the smooth running of the ACO operationally speaking, but the Regional Chairmen have additional responsibilities to lead their teams in providing the strategies that will increase the number and quality of officials (both umpires and scorers) in each county. An immediate objective is for each Regional Chairman to liaise with each of their County Chairmen to agree business plans and budgets for each county in their region, ensuring best practice is shared to achieve our recruitment and retention targets. Furthermore, they are expected to assist the ECB's regional team in developing strategies to increase participation within cricket generally. Each Regional Chair has been in direct contact with their respective ECB Head of Region and has become part of the management structure of the region as a ‘volunteer’, with specific responsibilities for officials and officiating. Big jobs, so, we asked the Regional Chairs to tell us a bit about themselves. Philip Radcliffe – North Philip worked for 42 years in local government until taking early retirement at the age of 60. He was employed by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council for 39 years, until local government reorganisation in 1974, and three years prior to that with Halifax County Borough Council. For most of his time in local government he was in the IT section, but among other duties was also responsible for the budget monitoring of the service. He became an umpire in 1986 and joined the Bradford Cricket League Umpires Association. He is still umpiring in this league, now known as Bradford Premier League, and is currently Chairman of the Umpires Association. He was a member of ACU&S, and became a member of ECB ACO at its inception. He has been involved in cricket administration for many years and was elected as the first and only Regional Chairman for the North region in 2008, and has represented the region on the ACO Board and now the Management Committee. He is also Chairman of the Yorkshire ACO, and has been since its formation in 2008. He is currently a Director of the Yorkshire Cricket Board, having previously been its Chairman (2009–2016) and its Vice-Chairman (2005–2009). He is a Board member of the Bradford Premier League, and Chairman and Treasurer of the Bradford Junior Cricket League, and serves on the ECB’s recreational Cricket Group. If that was not enough, Philip is also a qualified tutor in both umpiring and scoring, as well as being a qualified assessor. David Bird – West Midlands Having played in West Midlands leagues and Cotswolds village cricket, David qualified as an umpire in 2011, standing in the Warwickshire Cricket League and Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League. David is the current Chairman of Warwickshire ACO having previously been the County Education Officer. He is a member of the ECB ACO Education Task Force and a lead tutor on several courses. Various cricket injuries have interrupted his umpiring career, so David is now active as an observer and assessor most Saturdays. David’s professional career was spent as a management consultant in industry, mainly with PricewaterhouseCoopers, but also as an independent consultant, working in the UK, Europe and the USA. He specialised in leading and supporting large systems and process redesign assignments for major national and global organisations as a Business Change Manager and Programme Manager. Peter McKenzie – East Midlands Peter is the current Chairman of Nottinghamshire ACO and was formerly the RAO for the Midlands region. By his own admission, Peter played cricket for far too long and finally succumbed to the physiotherapist’s bills in the mid-90s. Since then, he has enjoyed a varied umpiring career, being privileged to stand in (and now appoint to) ‘D’ List games and umpire membership of the MCC, as well as 17 seasons with the Nottinghamshire Premier League. Throughout his time playing and officiating, he has tried to support the organisational side of the game in a wide variety of roles, by applying a range of skills acquired from a long and varied career in education. (He is now retired allegedly, but is still a lead inspector for Ofsted.) He has been the Regional Appointments Officer for the Midlands since the role was created in 2008 and was elected Chairman of Nottinghamshire ACO at the launch of ECB ACO. He looks forward to the challenge of establishing the East Midlands as a model of good practice and supporting the growing quantity and quality of officiating in the region. Peter Hinstridge – East Peter is the current Chairman of Hertfordshire ACO. During his business and professional email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 7