This year’s Gillette Cup Secondary Schools national tournament is not just about developing bright young players, it’s also a place for umpires to develop their skills.
Former international umpire Dave Quested is in Palmerston North offering support and mentoring to the umpires standing in the Gillette Cup. The initiative was introduced this year by New Zealand Cricket.
“This is another step on their career path,” said Quested. “All the umpires at the Gillette Cup are on the Regional panel and this tournament gives them the opportunity to show their skills.
“We can’t teach them decision making. But we look at things like their confidence in decision making, their body language and how they receive the body language of the players.”
Quested’s role is to appraise the umpires after every Gillette Cup game, gathering self- assessments from the umpires and feedback from the captains. “The goal is to build them up, not drag them down,” Quested pointed out. “We give them constructive feedback. If there was a mistake we talk about it, what when wrong and how we can do it differently next time.”
The key thing for Quested is ensuring the umpires have the support and feel confident when out in the middle. “The real onus is on backing the umpires so they can improve their performances and at the end of the day are happy with their decision making.”
Umpiring can be tough, Quested notes, making a valid point about the men in the middle. “We all make mistakes. Humans aren’t perfect. We have flaws, so our goal with this initiative is to minimise those mistakes by giving the umpires more experience and more practice in the middle.”
The initiative will also be in place at the national Under 19 tournament next week and Under 17 tournament in January. International umpires Billy Bowden and Tony Hill will be mentors along with Quested throughout the season.
