ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET UMPIRES AND SCORERS OF NIGERIA (ACUSN) SET TO HOST WEBINAR ON BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL UMPIRE
The Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers of Nigeria (ACUSN) is set to organize her first ever webinar session in preparation for the post Covid-19 era. The webinar which is expected to take place on the 7th of June 2020 via Zoom online video App will look to discuss salient topics that would inform and improve Umpires and Scorers in Nigeria and beyond.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has identified Nigeria as the next big Cricket project in Africa due to the recent success recorded in the last 3 years. The national teams have greatly improved in performance and ranking with the history making Under 19 male team, participating in the ICC U-19 cricket world cup in January 2020.
Prior to that tournament, 3 Umpires from Nigeria were also invited for the first time by the ICC to be part of the officials of the U-19 world cup qualifies back in 2018. Evidently, giant strides have been made in all areas of development of the sport in Nigeria with the Umpire’s Association eager to remain on the front burner of listings when it comes to international tournaments by the ICC.
Notable Umpires from outside Nigeria with high reputations and experience will form the panel of discussants for this Webinar. They are;
- Stephen Harris ( Umpire and Facilitator, Cricket South Africa)
- Andrew Louw (International Umpire, Cricket Namibia)
- Meet Shah (India) Co-Founder CricHeroes Online Cricket Scoring App
Stephen Harris will be speaking on the topic: Levels 1-4 Offenses by players and Umpires Actions.
Andrew Louw will engage participants on: Career path in Umpiring.
Meet Shah will handle: Importance of online scoring in modern day Cricket
There shall be guest appearances of the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation Prof. Yahaya Adam Ukwenya and Vice President of the Federation Mr. Uyi Akpata.
The National Chairman of the Association Mr. Musa Ehizoje expressed delight at the opportunity to host such meeting especially having international umpires as speakers. ‘’The Webinar will go a long way to help our local umpires clearly define a career path and also expose the umpires to some critical aspects of umpiring usually not enforced in our domestic system he said.’’
Secretary of the Association Mr. Richson Tetteh also highlighted the essence of such program which he said will further expose our umpires to international best practices, citing online scoring as a major area of interest for our officiating system in Nigeria.
Participants for the webinar will include all local umpires and scorers in Nigeria. Other African countries like Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and more are also expected to join. Spectators, administrators, managers, Stake holders and the Media are not left out as the Webinar is designed to be all inclusive for the overall growth and development of the sport in Nigeria and Africa.
MUSA EHIZOJE BODIE
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER (NCF)