EAP Umpires Set High Standard at WCL Division 3

The East Asia-Pacific region was represented by two umpires at the recent World Cricket League Division 3 tournament in Hong Kong and both did the region proud with strong performances throughout the event.

The two umpires were Neil Harrison who was representing the Japan Cricket Association and Shahul Hameed from Cricket Indonesia who was given the honour of officiating the final between Hong Kong and PNG.

"It's always good to be chosen to officiate a final," said Hameed. "What makes it most satisfying is to know that it is usually a reflection of overall performance."

Despite having previously umpired 10 ODI matches, Hameed who is a member of the ICC Associate & Affiliate panel says tournaments such as Division 3 in Hong Kong still give him terrific opportunities to improve in all areas of umpiring.

"It was a really well organised tournament and gave me a great opportunity to associate with other officials and referees from different parts of the world," he said. "To also be given the opportunity to work with full time professionals such as Daryl Harper was invaluable."

Hameed first began umpiring when he was involved in local club matches that did not have neutral umpires and constantly had issues associated with umpiring decisions. As a result in 1999 he volunteered to officiate a full game and received strong praise for his performance which was the trigger to kick start his career.

"My goals for the future are to perform consistently and to officiate more international matches on a regular basis," he said. "The ultimate goal would be to complete a pathway to officiate Test matches in the future, whilst still helping to develop and nurture more local talent in the region as well."

Neil Harrison was another strong performer in Hong Kong and he also found the experience a rewarding one.

"Hong Kong was excellent, that's a seriously buzzing place," he said. "The location of Kowloon Cricket Club in the middle of all those skyscrapers is just amazing."

"Having Daryl Harper as our "celebrity" umpire was great. He was just one of the team, always joking, always available and, you always felt like you were learning something."

Like Hameed, Harrison began umpiring local league matches when umpires were supplied by the batting team.

"I quite enjoyed it and did it quite often," he said. "It was then a natural progression to start doing league matches when neutral umpires were introduced."

From there in 2007 Harrison became the first umpire from an Associate or Affiliate country within East Asia-Pacific to be chosen to officiate at the Australian Country Cricket Championships. Harrison's performance at this event went a long way to securing East Asia-Pacific with ongoing umpiring positions at future ACCC tournaments.

With the ultimate goal to get himself onto the Associates and Affiliate Panel and to umpire an ODI featuring a full member country, Harrison is keeping a level head with his ambitions.

"I just want to make sure I keep improving and enjoying it," he said. "Hopefully the eyes and ears are good for a few more years."