EXAMINATIONS FOR UMPIRES

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29250, 7 July 1960, Page 5

EXAMINATIONS FOR UMPIRES

Auckland Motion Of Protest (New Zealand Press Association » AUCKLAND, July 6. Of 28 candidates who sat a national cricket umpires examination in April, not one achieved the pass mark of 90 per cent. As a result, the Auckland Cricket Umpires’ Association will move what is expected to be a controversial remit to the annual conference of New Zealand umpires to be held in Auckland next month. Auckland will move for authority for the recommendation of umpires be taken out of the hands of the New Zealand Umpires’ Association, which set the test and he returned to the local cricket associations, to make their own recommendations to the New Zealand Cricket Council. Auckland will suggest the national adoption of its own previous system whereby umpires were graded locally, largely on the recommendation of dub captains in match reports. This was the second year a national examination has been conducted. the first with the' mark set at 90 per cent. —a figure which raised much confplaint. The highest mark in the country was 88. The top Auckland man received 73. '‘This examination rules out the men'who perform well on the field and gain the confidence of players,” said Mr E. C. Challinor, the secretary of the Auckland Umpires’ Association. “We consider the best judge of an umpire to be club captains—men like G. O. Rabone and V. C. Belsham.