GCU&SA closes season on a high despite challenges

Dec 25, 2013 Sports

The Georgetown Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association (GCU&SA) closed the 2013 season on a high note despite a number of challenges. One of its youngest member Ryan Banwari topped the Caribbean in the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) final written examination while another member, Javed Persaud was the only Guyanese that was successful in the preliminary exams.
President of the association, Shannon Crawford, expressed satisfaction with the performances of the umpires in 2013 adding that apart from fulfilling its mandate of supplying umpires for the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) they were able to assist with games on the East Coast, East Bank and West Demerara area despite limited

Members of the GCU&SA Executive

human resources.
Crawford said that one of the main challenges the association is faced with is to attract young umpires. He stated that the fees at the domestic level are not very attractive when compared to other territories, but they managed to secure a ten percent increase from the GCA.
“Many people are afraid of umpiring because of being criticized by players, media and fans. One of our objectives is to draw young and female umpires and a number of training sessions are planned for the New Year. It is important for umpires to start their career at a young age so that they can have a better chance of reaching the higher levels. We will target the University of Guyana and the Cyril Potter College of Education”, he added.
Crawford indicated that GCU&SA is currently going through a transition period where they are grooming young umpires. He informed that they will assist other associations including West Demerara, Upper Demerara and East Coast Demerara to regain their vibrancy in 2014.
Meanwhile, Crawford and Colin Alfred are on the Regional panel while Nigel Duguid is on the International Cricket Council panel. (Zaheer Mohamed)