Dunedin born Chris Gaffaney has just started his second year on the ICC Elite Umpires Panel. He spoke to us about what it's like to be in the middle of the international action.
Can you reflect back on your first year on the ICC Elite Panel for us?
It was absolutely amazing. I keep telling people that ask - that it’s like living the dream. Just getting to travel the world, visit the best grounds in the world and see the best players play, and you’re right amongst it. It’s pretty incredible to be a part of an Ashes series and then a Boxing Day test. Yeah it’s living the dream.
You were obviously once a professional cricketer, how does standing in the middle as an umpire compare to playing in the middle?
I think it gave me a good grounding in terms of taking on the challenge of being an umpire, but in terms of what I enjoy better - it’s probably the umpiring. Yeah, like my playing career I was only so so, but now to have a chance to be at the top level as an umpire yeah it’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
When a lot of people think about umpiring, they think of the pressure of those big decisions. How do those sort of pressures differ from the pressures on a player and how do you cope with that?
As I say I think being a player, like every time you go out there its pressure, and as an umpire it’s exactly the same thing. You just build up a bit of experience as you go along, and you just try and see each ball as a batter. Just play each ball on its merit and you try and make the best decision you can with the information you’ve got. Sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong, and hopefully you get more right than wrong.
What would you say is the best part and the worst part about being an international umpire?
Best part as I was saying is being able to watch the best players play in the best grounds in the world, and probably the worst part is the travel and being away from the family. We don’t get home games because of the neutral umpire rules. I didn’t do any games in New Zealand last year, and spent seven months out of the country. That was a real change and something I’m sort of adapting to and the family is adapting to.
What’s your next assignment?
Yeah I’m heading off to a test series in late July, so that will be a tough series. Sri Lanka, Australia, three tests. It’s always a challenge in foreign conditions where the ball will turn quite a bit. It’s a bit different to New Zealand.
How much preparation do you do ahead of a Test match?
We usually arrive three days prior, but one of the tests in Galle which is just notoriously difficult. We always say if it’s difficult to bat, it’s difficult to umpire. So Sri Lanka is notorious for being very difficult and low scoring games. But we do a very thorough preview of the pitch, conditions and teams.
Can you still enjoy a rollicking day’s play when you’re umpiring in the heat of battle?
Yeah sometimes. Like I’ve just come back from the IPL and my last game was in Kolkata in front of 75,000 people, and I got to watch Virat Kholi and AB de Villiers put on 100 odd runs and win the game. You sit back and you think wow that was just impressive. And like the crowd noise, just the whole thing, it’s just mind blowing. You sit back and those are the days you think yeah I’m very, very lucky.
How important do you think it is to have a New Zealander on the ICC Elite Umpiring Panel?
It’s definitely important to see a Kiwi umpire out there flying the flag. We want to create and encourage the next generation of umpires to come through and they need something to aspire to. Like when I started everyone looked at Billy Bowden and Tony Hill, and that gave me the motivation to have a go at it. But I’m hoping somebody else now is seeing me on TV or whatever at test matches, and they think, yeah I’d like to have a go at that. It’s always the plan to get more New Zealanders through and at the top level.
To find out about other developing umpires click here.
