EDP Umpiring Consultant to oversee introductory umpiring course

As part of Austria's preparations as the host nation for the ECC Trophy, which will be held in Seebarn and the new ground in Markommannenstrasse in Vienna's 22nd district, the European Development Programme's Umpiring Consultant, Graham Cooper will be holding an umpiring course over the weekend of 28th February - 2nd March in association with the Austrian Union of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (AUCUS).

AUCUS President Walter Blaschke outlined that the aim of the course is to allow up to eight umpires to gain the ECC Introductory Umpiring Certificate, with participants also then taking part in a practical test over the course of one of the weekends at the start of the season. The hope is to use the sessions as a primer for the umpires who will be standing during the ECC Trophy.

The course is by no means the first initiative for umpires in Austria. Umpires standing in Open League games and ACA Trophy games all have to have completed a basic umpiring seminar, althoughthe hope is that more will take up the opportunity to gain formal qualifications. Walter Blaschke has umpired indoors and outdoors at international tournaments, with Sandeep Khanna, Helmuth Zikuda, Graham Tebb and Neil Foster all having stood during the 2001 ECC Trophy in Velden and Seebarn.

Seminars were initially run by the ACU&S overseas instructors, Alf & George Powley, in the late 1980s, with other seminars being run by the ACA and AUCUS, with John Middleton having also visited Austria for a course.

For more information about the course, please visit the AUCUS website, by following the link below.