Plans in place to create quality umpires
Umpiring has been an overlooked area in the country's cricket despite the fact that Bangladesh is one of International Cricket Council's full members.
No grading system has been in place to evaluate umpires, something that has been a long-standing issue here, and the BCB umpires' committee are taking steps to begin an evaluation process which would structurally help enact a grading system to categorise umpires. The program will come into action from next season but the process begins from March this year.
Umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat is set to officiate in the bilateral series between Australia and West Indies later this month as a neutral umpire, which is a big step for Bangladesh. Umpires Masudur Rahman Mukul and Gazi Sohel are also set to officiate in ICC U-19 World Cup, which has seen the status of Bangladesh umpires rise. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wants to ensure they have 10-12 quality umpires, such as those mentioned above, in the top level of the country's umpiring scene.
The state of umpiring was recently thrown into question after the National Cricket League (NCL), where Sylhet Division coach alleged that matches were being lost to poor umpiring.
A fact-finding committee reviewed the on-field decisions and a few umpires were sidelined for the BCL, and assessments are continuing on what improvements are needed. Even the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has instructed to clean up the image of umpiring in the domestic circuit.
Umpires such as Saikat, Mukul and Gazi have come through the ICC Level 1, 2 and 3 umpire accreditation programme, done in collaboration with Cricket Australia (CA) back in 2007, 2008 and 2009. As many as 108 umpires went through level 1 and 2 while 15 umpires, who currently are in top-tier among BCB umpires, undertook level 3 courses during that period.
This time BCB are planning to undertake a huge programme of creating a base of 600 umpires. In the initial batch, the umpires' committee will have 100-150 umpires who will sit down for ICC's umpiring foundation course online.
The foundation course will have one-hour exams and BCB are planning to ready at least 40 umpires who can move on to ICC Level 1 and 2 umpiring courses. The process is being handled by David Moore, BCB's Head of Programs, who is communicating with ICC and others.
"We are beginning from zero. We will be taking ICC's help with the ICC foundation course. Right now, there is a panel-based system which starts with training level, then comes district and regional level and so on, after that top level. With the evaluation process starting from March we would bring the grading system. There is no umpires' enlistment now and with this we will start," BCB umpires' committee chairman Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu told The Daily Star yesterday.
All umpires officiating in domestic tournaments will now have to reaccredit via ICC accreditation process that will allow a standardised approach to training, development and benchmark competence, so that each umpire can be ranked or graded. Approved umpires are to be nominated for ICC Level 1 and 2 accreditation courses. The level 1 and 2 ICC courses will see umpires' on-field decisions also evaluated, likely in June-July, said a BCB official.
However, umpires' remuneration in Bangladesh is still far behind other countries. BCB officials have said that raising the remuneration can go a long way to raising standards.
Highlights
BCB wants to have 600 accredited umpires, initially set to begin with batch of 100-150
Evaluation begins from March this year with ICC's Umpires' Foundation course
The umpires that pass the ICC foundation course move to ICC Level 1 and 2 accreditation courses
BCB umpires' committee eying an effective grading system enacted from next season