Dear Hertfordshire Club,
On behalf of- Hertfordshire Association of Cricket Officials (HACO)
To all Hertfordshire Cricket Clubs,
A huge thank you to all the umpires and scorers who have officiated with your clubs and taken Panel Appointments on Saturdays, together with Sunday & Midweek games as well.
Whilst on Saturdays, panel appointments are made to the top 5 Divisions (our Appointments Officer Anthony Levy averaged 47 out of the required 50 appointments each week in 2024 up from 43.5 in 2023), the other 24 Divisions in the SHPCL are umpired by Club Umpires and Players.
We would ask all Clubs throughout the county to help attract more qualified umpires and scorers, not necessarily to join the League Panel but to join HACO and to contribute to umpiring and scoring in Saturday League games, Schools, Age Group and Seniors matches and in other competitions and friendlies.
Can I please ask people within their Clubs to consider taking up umpiring and/or scoring as the next best thing to playing. If we leave recruitment to each other, the game which means so much to many people will suffer - we need to recruit more officials so please give it some thought.
In umpiring we are keen to increase the numbers of both younger officials and women. Additionally, we wish to ensure that the Officials community reflects the diverse player population of Hertfordshire cricketers so we warmly welcome those from ethnic community backgrounds.
HACO are here to help support Umpires and Scorers obtain qualifications and run regular training and development sessions to help all Officials improve their knowledge and discuss with fellow Officials concerns and ideas.
In particular, with Hertfordshire launching a 4 Division Women’s League for 2025, there will be fantastic opportunities for women to start umpiring or scoring in this new environment.
There are a selection of Courses coming up over the Winter as well so please book in if you are interested:-
ECB Umpiring Course – Hertfordshire Sports Village (Hertfordshire)
Date(s): Sunday 16th February 2025
Timings: 10am – 4.30pm
Venue: Hertfordshire Sports Village, de Havilland Campus, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, AL10 9EU
Cvent Course Code: CFNDNBR3HPR
Unique Booking Link: https://booking.ecb.co.uk/Ad5KVb
Scorers Courses
CLUB SCORER COURSE
This course is for anyone wanting to score on a regular basis and is the only one to comprehensively teach to you how to do that. If you are wanting to become qualified to Level 1, then you must have attended this 2-day course.
Course Dates: Saturdays 1st & 8th March 2025
Location: Hatfield & Crusaders CC, Ascots Lane, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 4HJ
To sign up to this course, please use the following link:
Club scorer - https://booking.ecb.co.uk/wkW3Vm
ELECTRONIC SCORING WORKSHOP
This 1 day workshop will take you through scoring using PCS Pro, from setting up a match to printing out the final scorecard and will give you some handy hints on how to make amendments as quickly as possible, while play continues.
Workshop Date: Sunday 16th March 2025
Location: North Mymms Cricket Club, Home Farm, North Mymms Park, Nr Hatfield, Herts, AL9 7TP
.
To sign up to this course, please use the following link:
Electronic scoring - https://booking.ecb.co.uk/Ad7on8
If you wish to discuss officiating further, please contact one of the following:
Tim Caldicott (HACO Education Officer) education.haco@outloook.com
Rob Riddleston (HACO Recruitment and Retention Officer) the.riddlestons@btinternet.com
Hilary Stiffin (HACO Scorers’ Officer) Hilary.stiffin@ntlworld.com
Rob Riddleston
Recruitment & Retention Officer
HACO
January 2025