Brathwaite still in charge of umpires’ association

It was yet another resounding victory for international certified cricket umpire Gregory Brathwaite who will serve his fifth consecutive term as President of the Barbados Cricket Umpires Association (BCUA) having attained 43 votes.

The electoral process was held last night at Kensington Oval where Brathwaite who has been at the helm since 2013 defeated Ricardo Harrison who tallied 19 votes. Leon Layne will serve as deputy having amassed 37 votes to Harrison’s 28. The latter also ran for the position of vice-president.

Speaking with Barbados TODAY from St. Lucia where he is on tour as an umpire in the ongoing home series between West Indies and Bangladesh, Brathwaite said he was happy that the membership has continuously shown faith in his ability to lead.

“The role of president in our association is really to look after the interest of our membership, to look after the development of our younger umpires and that is where my focus has been and befits what we do and what we offer to the game of cricket. So, I am happy that the membership feels I have been doing what they require or what they are looking for in terms of direction and leading the organization.

“I am even happier that a lot of the younger members feel happy to be associated with our association as it is and they feel a part of what we are doing and for me, that sends a great message in terms of them seeing themselves a part of this organization. So, being re-elected by the membership does give one a level of comfort and satisfaction that you are generally doing what the membership requires of you,” Brathwaite explained.

One of two Barbadians on the International Cricket Council elite panel of umpires with the other being Leslie Reifer Jr, Brathwaite said he was pleased to see the growing interest among young people who have joined the BCUA. There is also Jonathan Blades who is part of the Cricket West Indies First-Class panel of umpires.

Blades was voted in as secretary of the BCUA with 38 votes, eleven ahead of the 27 tallied by Harrison who ran for three positions and was unsuccessful on each occasion.

“What we have seen is quite a few younger persons especially coming and taking the examination with an interest in somehow later on being involved in umpiring. What that also does for us also is give us a comfort level that we are also educating a lot of the younger folks who are involved in the game who now are positioned to share their knowledge with other young people.

“Surely in my time a lot of what we learnt was from those around the club who have not necessarily been trained and in a lot of those instances, we would have gotten information that was not necessarily accurate. So, what we are doing is educating a lot of those younger folk now which encourages them to have a greater knowledge of the cricket laws and pass on that. What this does is build capacity for the future because a lot of the younger persons are still playing but obviously sees this is something they would want to do in the future,” Brathwaite said.

He added: “However, what it does is create for us at this current time a shortage because we got a lot of members who are way older who have reached a place where they feel they cannot continue on the field. While we have a lot of younger people coming on board and taking the exam, they are not quite ready to take the field and it leaves us with a little bit of a challenge in building that capacity. But as I said the added value is that we are building capacity for the future but we need to work on how we will fill the capacity that we need at present.”

Brathwaite revealed that the BCUA (whose elections are held bi-annually) still has some work to do in terms of its vision and while they have made some strides in terms of making it a professional association, the president hopes to see in the next two years the inclusion of scorers and match referees as part of the association.

“Overseas it is seen as a match committee which includes scorers, match referees and umpires and I think they all play an integral role in the game of cricket. I think the time has come for us to widen our reach to include the match referees and scorers to enhance what we do in terms of the development of our cricket,” Brathwaite added.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb