I am a Trustee of Buckinghamshire Cricket and Chair of the Buckinghamshire Association of Cricket Officials. I am an umpire and an umpire tutor. I am part of the scoreboard operating team at the Kia Oval. In addition, I have coached cricket skills to thousands of children worldwide volunteering with Cricket Without Boundaries.
My daughter Anna decided to take up the sport aged five. Her local club set up a women’s team and so I trained and played with them alongside Anna, even though I was already middle-aged. It is never too late! I helped out at the club, scored some matches, and as Anna progressed in county cricket, I managed her county team, getting involved in match and tea organisation, scoring, player selection and prize giving!
I qualified as an umpire in 2010 and as a scorer in 2011. I started umpiring Saturday league cricket, county age group games and Anna’s club matches. Over the years I have moved to games where I have the most interest – women’s, girls’ and more recently Visually Impaired Cricket. I am honoured to have been twice awarded Umpire of the Year in VI cricket.
As an umpire you need a sense of humour and you learn resilience, leadership and the importance of remaining calm - keys skills that spread into other areas of life. I am constantly learning as I umpire, and am excited to be officiating a Super 9s (disability) cricket match for the first time this season.
Cricket is a game for everyone and should be fun for everyone. There are so many ways to participate in the cricket community –if one role does not suit, another will. If you love the game, you will love being involved – and you are always welcome to sign up to one of my umpire courses! Women’s cricket has exploded onto the scene with energy, pizzazz and an ever-increasing level of skills. It is fantastic to be part of it at any level – grass roots like me, or internationally, like my daughter.