da pinnacle： The man widely acknowledged as the Caribbean’s best umpire has given ahuge vote of confidence to three of his West Indian colleagues
Haydn Gill17-May-2001The man widely acknowledged as the Caribbean’s best umpire has given ahuge vote of confidence to three of his West Indian colleagues.Steve Bucknor, one of international cricket’s most capped umpires,believes Eddie Nicholls, Billy Doctrove and Basil Morgan can comparefavourably with any of the officials on the International CricketCouncil’s (ICC) National Grid panel.I think our top umpires are as good as any anywhere, Bucknor saidahead of the seventh One-Day International between West Indies andSouth Africa at the Arnos Vale Playing Field yesterday.I’ve seen umpiring around the world and it is my opinion that they areas good as any in the world.As an experienced umpire who has stood in three successive World Cupfinals, 56 Tests and 90 One-Day Internationals in each of the tenTest-playing nations, Bucknor has had the benefit of officiating withseveral other umpires.When the ICC moves to introduce an elite panel of about a dozenumpires which will serve in all Test matches, the 54-year-old Jamaicanis certain to be among that group.And he feels Nicholls, the second of the West Indies representativeson the ICC panel, should also be in the line-up.Once the system is implemented, the current policy in which an umpirefrom the host country is automatically appointed will be eliminated.In my opinion, Nicholls is within the top ten quite easily, Bucknorsaid of the Guyanese police assistant superintendent who has stood in15 Tests and 26 One-Day Internationals.With this new system coming maybe next year, it is possible that hecould get into the new panel that is going to be made up of about ten,12 umpires who will do all of Test cricket.Dominican Doctrove and Morgan, of Montserrat, are not members of theNational Grid panel which is made up of 20 umpires four from Englandand two from each of the other Test-playing countries with theexception of Bangladesh.I have seen Test umpires who are not half as good as Doctrove andMorgan, Bucknor said.They are better than some I have seen on the circuit but because thesystem says two from each country, the best umpires are notnecessarily within the top 20. I hope there is a place for themsometime soon.Outside of the main group of the dozen top umpires, there is expectedto be a secondary panel of about 25 umpires.On this panel, I think budding umpires should come through, saidBucknor.