Two Trinis on Windies women’s umpire panel

IN an effort to improve the talent pool in the Caribbean, a West Indies women’s umpire panel has been created by Cricket West Indies (CWI). The initiative is the first of its kind in the region. Five women from throughout the region, including Trinidadians Vicki Daniel and Candace La Borde, will have the opportunity to sharpen their umpiring skills. The other women in the Caribbean selected are Maria Abbott, Carolyn Browne and Bernadette Reid.

“They want more women into the umpiring fold at the high level because there is a lot of women’s cricket around,” a TT Cricket Umpires Council official told Newsday on Friday.

“We have the under-19 women’s regional tournament, we have the other women’s teams and competitions. Cricket West Indies is really trying to get more women involved in the officiating aspect of it and this plan was (made) about two years now, but certain things probably did not play off at that time.” The source added, “These women will be undergoing training and so on to get them ready for that level of umpiring.” Online classes have already started to develop the skills of the five umpires.

Daniel, who hails from the East Zone, was one of the top performers at the Regional 2017 Practical and Oral Examinations. She placed fourth overall in the region among the 35 candidates that sat the examination.

Daniel was among three TT officials who finished in the top five. She was a third umpire in an exhibition T20 game last year featuring Brian Lara and Kieron Pollard at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair.

La Borde has experience in umpiring an administration. She was the assistant secretary of the North Zone Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association of TT and was one of the umpire representatives to the North Zone Cricket Council. La Borde has officiated in North Zone tournaments and the TT Cricket Board National League. Asked if the creation of the panel is geared towards improving the skills of regional women’s umpires for the 2022 50-Over Women’s World Cup, the local official said, “It could very well be, you never could tell because that will be two years in terms of preparation, but prior to that there may be some other women’s competitions that they may get themselves involved in so that Cricket West Indies could look at them and look at their performance and take a cue from that.”

The 50-Over tournament was scheduled to be held from February 6 to March 7, 2021 but was postponed because of covid19. The five West Indies women may also be motivated to earn selection for the 2022 T20 World Cup in South Africa.

Even at women’s cricket tournaments, the majority of umpires are men. At the 2017 ICC Women’s 50-Over World Cup in England and Wales there were 13 umpires, but only four were women. The women included Jamaican Jacqueline Williams, Kathy Cross of New Zealand, Australian Claire Polosak and Sue Redfern of England. Williams umpires regularly in Cricket West Indies tournaments.

Five of the 12 umpires at the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia were women including Williams, Redfern, Polosak, South African Lauren Agenbag and Kim Cotton of New Zealand.