Kingston, Jamaica – The West Indies Cricket Board continues to focus on equipping officials involved in the game with the necessary skills to enhance their performances and the overall standard of West Indies cricket.

Today three workshops commenced in Jamaica for umpires, match referees and video analysts from across the region.

ICC Umpires and Referees Manager Vince Van Der Bijl along with John Holder, the ICC Regional Umpires Performance Manager (for Europe and the West Indies) have made presentations to the 13 umpires and 13 match referees.

WICB Director of Cricket, Tony Howard, in his presentation at the start of the workshops for Match Referees and Umpires said that the WICB is in a ‘season of change’ and that the WICB is putting plans in place at all levels so that the West Indies brand can be identified with being truly ‘world class’ and at the cutting edge of the game.

“It is not enough to just know the laws and rules of the game, there needs to be a cohesion of effort, a cohesion of ideas and a cohesion of learning so that we can achieve truly world class status on and off the field,” Howard lamented during his presentation.

In highlighting that the now retired Clive Lloyd and Steve Bucknor were West Indian pioneers in the field of international match refereeing and umpiring, Howard outlined that the WICB is making committed efforts to lift the standards of umpiring and match refereeing in the region in order to produce world class umpires and match referees who can contend for places on the ICC international panels.

One of the highlights of the workshop is when Bucknor will make a presentation, share his knowledge and experience and lead discussions during the three day sessions which will end on Wednesday October 13th.

In urging the participants to move away from the ways and views of the past Van Der Bijl said that the umpires and match referees must take collective responsibility for the game.

“You must take the responsibility to control the game and maintain discipline at all times,” he advised during an energetic presentation.

ICC Elite Umpire Billy Doctrove and ICC Match Referee Adrian Griffith are teaming up with Van Der Bijl, Holder and Bucknor in leading the workshops.

The workshops follow the WICB announcement following the last meeting of the Board of Directors that regional umpires and match referees will be on annual central retainer contracts and a WICB Emerging Umpires Panel will be established along with the WICB Senior Umpires Panel and the WICB Match Referees Panel.

West Indies team Video and Statistical Analyst Richard Berridge and Walt Rock of software company SportsCode are leading the training workshop for the nine video analysts.

SportsCode is the company which provides the software being used by the West Indies and various other teams around the world.

“Video analysis has become an integral part of First Class and international cricket and the WICB is making a concerted effort to ensure that we have well equipped individuals in every territory who can efficiently capture and code games for the benefit of the players and coaches,” Berridge explained.

“With the benefit of video analysis regional teams will be better able to plan and prepare for games and this will undoubtedly aid in lifting the standard of cricket in the region,” Berridge posited.

Workshop Attendees

Umpires
Billy Doctrove – Dominica/Windward Islands/West Indies
Clyde Duncan – Guyana
Norman Malcolm - Jamaica
Clancy Mack – Antigua & Barbuda/Leeward Islands
Goland Greaves – St Vincent & The Grenadines/Windward Islands
Vincent Bullen – Barbados
Luther Kelly – St Kitts & Nevis/Leeward Islands
Vivian Johnson – Jamaica
Peter Nero – Trinidad & Tobago
Lennox Abraham – Dominica/Windward Islands
Gregory Brathwaite – Barbados
Nigel Dugid – Guyana
Joel Wilson – Trinidad & Tobago

Match Referees
Vanroy Burnes – Antigua & Barbuda/Leeward Islands
Mervyn Jones – Barbados
Carlyle Carter – Barbados
Reon King – Guyana
Colin Stuart – Guyana
Denavon Hayles – Jamaica
Donald McNaughton – Jamaica
Michael Hylton – Jamaica
Cecil Fletcher – Jamaica
Patrick Felix – St Lucia/Windward Islands
Selwyn Allen – St Vincent & The Grenadines/Windward Islands
Terence Birbal – Trinidad & Tobago
Haydn Bruce – Trinidad & Tobago

Video Analysts
Justin Joseph – Antigua & Barbuda/Leeward Islands
Rodney Ashby – Barbados
Steven Leslie – Combined Campuses & Colleges
Dwayne Gill – Grenada/Windward Islands
Robin Singh – Guyana
Dexter Augustus – Jamaica
Trent Sargeant – St Kitts & Nevis/Leeward Islands
Rudy Ramesar – Trinidad & Tobago
Dinesh Mahabir – Trinidad & Tobago

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