Don Oslear
It was entirely appropriate that the ECB was represented at the funeral of a man who in many ways was a trailblazer for those non ex-professional players who have made it as umpires at the First Class level. To those of us of a certain age, Don Oslear was the‘ one who hadn’ t played’ who first made it to Test level. The more avuncular Nigel Plews joined him some years later of course, but it was Don who we assumed had opened the door through which others have gratefully followed.
In 1975, when he was appointed to the First Class List( according to Wisden‘ after some good performances in Second XI matches’), the Playfair Annual told us of his connections with ice hockey. It didn’ t tell us of his now well-documented time in the family fish business, or indeed of his soccer goalkeeping which very nearly earned him a game for Bill Shankly’ s Grimsby Town. He played and umpired club cricket in his beloved Lincolnshire( his father was Mayor of Cleethorpes) and had been recruited to stand in those Second XI matches by Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Once on the list his progress was impressive: he stood in five Tests in 1980 and 1981, and his colleagues were the illustrious Messrs. Constant, Meyer, Palmer and Bird( 2). How proud he must have been to have been involved in Ian Botham’ s famous Ashes series. In all he stood in 360 First Class matches, 338 List A games, 8 ODIs and a World Cup semi-final( in 1983). He was doubtless disappointed never to have been appointed to a domestic final despite officiating in 10 semi-finals. He was a great ambassador for ACU( and ACU & S and ECB ACO later), talking(!) in the winter all over the country to groups of aspiring umpires.
As a local I remember the championship match at Southend in 1982 when injured striker and runner ended up at the bowler’ s end; the exchange umpire from Pakistan seemed taken by surprise when a single alert fielder took off the striker’ s end bails and appealed, and a( perhaps delighted?) Don gave Paul Downton out. There had already been two‘ wickets’ off Oslear-called No balls.
Famously, of course, he was the third official in the ODI at Lord’ s in 1992 – a support umpire then with no TV duties – when an allegation of tampering saw the ball changed during an interval, and he wrote a subsequent report for the Test and County Cricket Board( TCCB). He gave evidence for Botham and Allan Lamb in their High Court case with Imran Khan, Don by then being referred to by many in the game as the ultimate expert on the Laws and their interpretation. Subsequently, in one of his three published books, Tampering with Cricket, he did not hold back with his opinions on what was wrong in the game and how such should be dealt with. Controversy did seem to follow him somewhat – his career was not short of incidents – and there were some who felt that he was less than uncomfortable with the attention.
In his final years before compulsory retirement at the end of the 1993 season, he was the elected chairman of the First Class Panel and their spokesman in dealings with the Board, and indeed it may have been his earlier directness and willingness to speak out which by then had probably cost him in the popularity stakes. His pride and self-confidence in his own knowledge of the Laws could make him appear dogmatic and patronising, and he certainly had an abrasive streak which did not endear him to players or indeed on occasions to colleagues. Like many, he probably couldn’ t understand why a more diplomatic approach to apparently clear-cut issues was required( on or off the field), and why boat-rocking was undesirable. The abiding memory of this colleague though, is of a man whose love for the game and its traditions and standards was paramount. On the field, very importantly as we all know, you always knew he was there for you – even if sometimes his style might not have been yours.
After his retirement it was no surprise that he just carried on umpiring. He did countless more matches whether it be with MCC, county Second XI, club matches in Yorkshire or J P Getty’ s teams at Wormsley where Cricket Archive has him standing in his final match in 2011( aged 82). He observed, mentored, assessed and never lost his enthusiasm.
Thanks Don, you were a one-off. Paul Adams
Former Test umpire Don Oslear, seen here with Ian Botham bowling against the West Indies at Trent Bridge in 1980.
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