Association of Cricket Officials Issue 29 | Page 10

Young Officials It’s been a busy start to the summer for the Young Officials with lots of appointments already taking place up and down the country, such as the Yorkshire Schools Festival, Bunbury Festival and ESCA finals. Here you can see some of the photos of our Young Officials in action at the MCC Corporate Day, being ably supported by a team of mentors; and read the account of one of our young scorers, Kate, on her first opportunity to score at Lord’s. MCC Corporate Day at Lord’s, 2017 My Experience as a Young Official Scorer My home is in Manchester, so I travelled down to London the night before, as we had been asked to report in time for breakfast at 7.30am (and that would have meant a 3 or 4am wake-up and I don’t think I would have had the energy to score with so little sleep!). I travelled with my dad who said he felt quite envious, because as I was an official I was allowed in the Pavilion and able to mingle with all the players (especially the professionals) who walked past and greeted the scorers. He and other parents were limited to Tavern boxes A and B, where the Young Officials could visit whenever they were free. and was able to just watch the semi-final and final. This gave me time to turn my dad into my personal photographer and capture the true happiness of me at the Home of Cricket (and also thanks to Liz, who took some photos while I was scoring). The food was amazing! We all started the day with a big breakfast in the Long Room and we all had our lovely lunch in the Harris Gardens. A tea was served in the Pavilion Library – wonderful sandwiches and fabulous scones! Something else I will never forget. When I was scoring the first game I wondered why I had been so nervous, because all I was doing was scoring a match, which I had done plenty of times. Being able to say I have scored at Lord’s is such an amazing thing. I’d like to thank Sue Jones, ECB ACO National Scorers’ Officer, for appointing me to this opportunity and also thank the mentors that were involved in running the day. Finally, a thank you to all the other Young Officials scorer and umpire colleagues who I was fortunate to work alongside throughout the day. I scored five matches in the knockout rounds 10 email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 It was just for people I didn’t know, with people I didn’t know. I also questioned why I mithered Sue Jones and Cheshire CSO, James Emmerson, too much about what I should wear. We had been advised in advance to be smart but comfortable, and with ACO or cricket club logo’d clothing if possible. I had stressed too much! Now I’m waiting to hear about another one I can do because it’s such a great learning opportunity for my scoring life and day-to-day life. (I still have the rota for the scoring duties on that day in my scoring bag and my name badge…so I can pretend that I’m just off to score at Lord’s again!) Kate Edwards