Tag: Training

The practical exercise in the most recent CPD video from the ACO on run-outs was a very good one. I didn’t know about the flash-lag effect, but I got 16 out of 18 correct anyway, with one wrong in either direction. There was one more where I thought the batsman was probably out but I wasn’t certain, so gave not out – correctly. My positional judgement varied around the actual frame the batsman was in by a frame or two either way, with about a third of my correct decisions being spot on.

I think that’s a pretty good result, but I shall revisit the exercise in a couple of weeks to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.

I hope they do one on LBWs soon, that’s the area of umpiring that I struggle the most with.

In the absence of cricket and hence no opportunity for my usual post-match Maoist self-criticism on this blog, I’m looking forward to improving my umpiring through the training materials that the ECB ACO are beginning to put out. The first one on umpire communication was a good start, although I was amused at their picking Nigel Owens out as a bad example of match official to player communication. The point being made was that lecturing like a school master – which Nigel does – is generally a bad thing. But it works well for Nigel, for reasons that are also pointed out in the video. Different example needed I think!

When I was reviewing my overall performance at the end of last season communications was one of the things I picked out as needing work. I was thinking mostly of my pre-match communication with team captains and club officials, but there were also a couple of things in that that I need to improve a bit in my on-field communication.