Umpires get coaching

3 April 2007

David Byas is among those named as umpire coaches

The England and Wales Cricket Board is delighted to announce the appointment of four umpire coaches for the 2007 season.

They will provide support for the first-class umpires, and the following four people have been selected to perform the role throughout the season:

David Byas
David Constant
John Hampshire
Mervyn Kitchen

The team of coaches will support the umpires and become instrumental in establishing and maintaining a high-performing team.

This system will be the start of an assessment framework for the performance of the umpires, and will complement the comments gathered from the captains’ reports.

Umpires will have an input into their own development, putting them in a position to be able to work more effectively with each other and provide accountability and responsibility.

The coaches will observe each of their team on a number of days each season and may also be able to assess the performance of those umpires aspiring to first-class level, thus maintaining the standards and shaping the expectations of future officials.

Chris Kelly, ECB umpires and match operations manager, said: “The appointment of these coaches will provide valuable support for our umpires as they look to maintain the high standard of performance that the modern game deserves.

“The team of coaches possesses a wide-range of experiences that will be of benefit to the development of the umpires and to each other.”