UMPEYE - The Diary of an Umpire at the U15B Tournament, Berlin

A month before
Been back from Canada about 3 weeks now, and the planning for the tournament in Berlin is running at full steam ahead. I've got 8 umpires who will be available for the week in August. Can't get any better than that. Dad, Hoshang Kharadi, Camil Sander, Rick Sladden, Volker Ellerbeck, Adolphus Lavington, and me, plus 2 reserves, Neil Hodgson and Barry Andrews. 10 umpires all in Germany, and that's before any that come with the travelling nations. Brian Canniford has asked me to be Head Umpire for the tournament, it's all a bit overwhelming. Still haven't fully recovered from the ICC, doing local league matches at the weekend, working, and trying to get all the stuff sorted for Berlin. I might need a nice comfortable padded room by the end of this season.

Two weeks before
Down to a possible 7 now! But we can still cover it. Rick has gone to the UK, Barry is unavailable, and Camil has exams to do. Dad has been a rock, he's created scoresheets for each of the matches, umpires scorecards for each of us, and an assessment form for the umpires for both of the managers of each game. Should be interesting to see how the German umpires measure up!

One week before
Volker has to work but will be able to do 2 or 3 matches. I've been in contact with Brian almost every night, and changed the umpiring schedule at least 3 or 4 times, I've lost count! 6 umpires at 2 separate grounds, 2 x 30 over matches per day on each ground and each match must have a 3rd umpire. It sounds complicated, and believe me it is complicated. Good news is that Belgium are sending an umpire called Richard Eames with them, he will be able to cover for Volker.

Friday 10 August
Everything has become quiet, no emails, no phone calls, I hate to think what the bill will be this month! It's the point of no return, I've done everything I can, hope it's enough, we're travelling up tomorrow, at least we'll have 2 umpires, Dad and me, oh well fingers crossed!

Saturday 11 August
The journey. All the way to Berlin by car. We left at 8am this morning, home made sandwiches carefully wrapped in tin foil! 6oo km from the very western point of Germany to almost as far east as you can go. Didn't do much the rest of the day. Rupert was there, showed us where we would live for the next week. Went out for a meal, proper steaks and stuff, decent portions too. Decided on the spot that we would have an umpires meal there the following Friday!

Sunday 12 August
Today it starts! Briefings galore! First of all the umpires. My first briefing as Head Umpire. Didn't go to badly, learnt a lot from Canada about how you do this sort of thing. Brief points about the most important bits of the playing conditions etc. Seemed to go down well. Not too many questions. Then the managers, coaches and captains. Told them basically the same, a few questions but all easy to answer. The opening Gala, a few words from Brian and Rupert, then off to bed. It all starts again for real tomorrow.

Monday 13 August - Spain vs Belgium
Found a good coffee shop this morning, proper strong stuff! Took Brian with us! The skies have opened up. First morning of the tournament, everybody hyped up and ready to go, bang goes a day off on Thursday! Surprisingly we actually got a game in this afternoon, I was only "thirding". Get the team sheets, give out the score sheets, have we got scorers? Captains brief before each match. Check that we have 2 new balls, get the toss done, make sure everyone is ready to start on time. Make sure the 12th man knows when to go on with drinks, Oh and don't panic! Think we've got everything sorted for Thursday, just pray it doesn't start again tonight. Belgium won quite convincingly. There is some good talent there, hope we don't lose it.

Tuesday 14 August - Gibraltar vs Greece & Italy vs Austria
2 games a day. Should make it interesting by Friday, will we still be able to stand up straight? Thirded again this morning, it was nice to actually get out on the field this afternoon. Gibraltar won this morning, the opening bat looks good, very solid and professional. The Greeks also have some good players, so far I'm very impressed! This afternoon the sun threatened to come out! Austria fielded a young lady in their team! Fantastic! She has a great throwing arm. She speared the Italian captain in the chest from about 35 / 40 yards, he went down like a sack of potatoes!

Wednesday 15th August - Israel vs Belgium & Gibraltar vs Austria
Where did the heat come from? 35 degrees plus out there today. Dehydration became a factor. 3 drinks breaks, and we needed them! Israel look very good. The bowling, fielding and batting, especially the skipper were very impressive. He has a lovely late cut. The Belgians didn't know how to bowl to him. Hit some superb shots to the boundary. And the boundary is not exactly small here! The Austrians just continued their good form. Everything very neat and tidy in their play, much like the Israelis. A good disciplined side, but still have fun on the field. My tip for the final: Israel vs Austria.

Thursday 16th August - Germany vs Israel
It's still too hot. Rumoured to have been the hottest place in Europe today. I can well believe it. Was at least 40c. Israel won. It was a good game but Israel just look better. The discipline on the field, the batting, skipper played well again. Don't think he's played a bad shot yet. Went into "Town" this afternoon. Got the gifts for all at home. Went to the Chinese, and took Richard and Hoshang with us.

Friday 17th August - Gibraltar vs Israel & Belgium vs Italy
The heat is still there! I don't think it will hold. Plans have been made for rain tomorrow. Fingers crossed! Israel win again! My tip for the final is half right, now for Austria! Gibraltar looked very compact at the start. The opener has become 100% better since Monday. He looks confident, can play the shots and commanded the bowling. Gibraltar had the chance to reach the final by beating Israel. They lost with a couple of balls to go. It was touch and go all the way. They were absolutely heartbroken. Belgium vs Italy, classed as the plate final. Italy won, but Belgium put up a good fight. The Belgians too have improved immensely since Monday. They play as a unit, and gee each other up. Unfortunately this wasn't enough against Italy, but they will learn, and want to win next year. Had our umpires dinner this evening, great fun, Brian paid! And announced the line-ups for the finals day. Question of the evening: What do you call a fly without wings? Answer: A walk! Yeah I know, you had to be there!

Saturday 18th August - Finals Day - Germany vs Israel
Slightly sore head! Overcast, and cooler. We started later so that the 3rd vs 4th playoff could watch the second innings. Israel were under strength due to 2 of the players not playing on the Sabbath. A very brave and courageous decision for the 2 involved, as Brian and I both said to them. We managed to get the whole match in. We had prepared for rain, which came, and we eventually got properly underway at 13:30. Germany won the toss and elected to bat. They batted well, very well in fact. The opener looked very good. All the actions, and the judgement of a batsman 6 or 7 years more senior. He held the innings together. As the other batsmen came and went, he stayed, calm and controlled. It was the first time that I had seen the Israelis unsure of what to do next. Up till now they had always dictated play to the opposition. Now it was the other way around. They reacted well under the pressure, but runs leaked through the field. The Germans batted sensibly, and produced a mature performance, worthy of the occasion. The Israeli team suffered with the 2 players missing, and the batting order did not look as comfortable, as before. They again batted well, the skipper playing yet another captains innings, but this time it was not enough. The German bowling was tight and accurate, the fielding was sound, and the skipper used his fielders and bowling changes well. In the end Germany came out winners, but with Israel a very close second. Had the presentation ceremony this evening, and the umpires were commended for their work. Got an ECC tie! Pete got one too, as the oldest umpire!

Reflection
Once again a month on, I look back on another fantastic tournament. The atmosphere as Rupert said in his report was superb. You had the feeling that the youngsters really enjoyed playing the game. The Greeks playing in the hallway at 10:30 at night may have something to do with this opinion! Living on the same floor as the Belgian squad, with their manager Chris the only female manger and Alex the coach playing "Good cop, bad cop" every night because the guys were so excited, but still had to play another game the following morning.

Sitting and talking to them along with Richard about the plans for the future, I can only say that I am excited about the future of European cricket. If all nations show as much dedication and love for the sport, we will have 25 full One Day International nations in the next 20 years.

This tournament was about building foundations for the future. The guys who met each other at the tournament will be meeting each other again for the next 10 to 15 years all over Europe to play against each other. The feeling of the "Adults" was that this was a great start, and if this can be carried on to senior tournaments then European cricket's future looks very rosy indeed.

A final thank you.

I must say thanks to several people; Rupert and the guys in Berlin for all the hard work in getting the tournament up and running. Brian for his help and report writing! Pete for doing all sorts of things that I asked him to, Richard, Neil, Hoshang, Volker, and Adolphus. But most of all the teams, without them it wouldn't have been any fun at all!

Roll on next season!
Paul Baldwin.