How the umpires for the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup are picked

My role is to look after match officiating globally. That’s the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires who officiate in Test, ODI and T20I matches in addition to major global tournaments. The Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires' primary role is to officiate bilateral limited-overs games which their member board hosts, and the ICC Development Panel of International Umpires that is made up of umpires from our associates' members and female umpires.

We use tournaments such as the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup to have a look at the umpires from the international panel that we’ve identified as possibly able to get to the elite level one day, while also bearing in mind what responsibilities we have to a tournament like this to provide good officiators. We marry those two goals together.

We conduct workshops prior to all tournaments to go through the specific tournament playing conditions and to ensure that everyone is on the same page. We conduct team briefings, so the teams are aware of what we expect and we examine any interpretations we need to go through. These umpires are not on the elite panel, but they go through exactly the same preparation that the elite guys do, which is tremendous for their development.

We always identify the best umpires we can to appoint to our tournaments. In a tournament such as this we have identified those umpires at the international level who demonstrate the necessary competencies, and we have two objectives when selecting:

1. To see how they perform at this level
2. To give the tournament a level of umpiring it deserves

However, through it all, we make sure that we choose umpires on merit and that we give the tournament, players, fans and the game itself the level of officiating that it deserves and expects.

There are a number of things that go into being a good umpire. We look at how they interact with the players, how they control the game and how the game moves forward because of their presence, communication, interventions when required and decision making.

In addition to their on-field skills, we also assess how they work together with their teammates, because like players they have to work in partnership with each other. We also see how well they know the playing conditions, how well they prepare and how well they use the resources provided to better their skills.

It’s a holistic approach: we look at the entire person, not just in terms of outs and not outs, but how they prepare themselves and how they get themselves ready to do their job. Our referees and umpire coaches see them as they work and we collate the reports submitted and get a sense of who our better umpires are. The reports give us an opportunity to highlight areas the umpires do well in and also identify any areas to work on.

I’ve never umpired, so I’ve never experienced the pressures that an umpire goes through. However, having been an international cricketer you do have an appreciation for the pressure that being within the top level does have, so it gives you that empathy and understanding for what an umpire might be going through. We try to look at things from their point of view and try to help them along the way and make sure that the umpires are in the best position to do their jobs.