By Nodley Wright, Freelance WriterTHE BROAD hat commonly worn by cricket umpires is one of many in Jamaican Steve Bucknor's collection, which also features his achievements as a high school footballer, cricketer, track star, sportsmaster, football coach, club coach and FIFA referee.
Later this week he'll add to that collection with the release of his book, The West Indies Cricket Umpires Coaching Manual.
"This book will deal with umpiring on a practical side. Helping them with what goes on on the field. It is my intention to assist umpires in the Caribbean," said the man fondly referred to as 'Slow Death' for his very deliberate way of sending batsmen back to the pavilion.
Unlike 'Whispering Death', as his countryman, Michael Holding is known, Bucknor's field presence does not drive fear into batsmen. It's nearer, rather, to that of Italian football referee Pierluigi Collina, who is generally regarded as the best in his field and whose decisions are rarely, if ever, questioned.
It is this mastery of the craft that Bucknor wants to pass to young and aspiring umpires, to breathe new life into the art.
"It is about teaching people how to umpire if you want to get into umpiring," he explained.
The cover of the 60-page colour paperback will feature a picture of Bucknor officiating in his fourth successive World Cup finals in South Africa last year. At $600 per copy, Bucknor said it's not a profit-making enterprise, more of a philantrophic contribution to umpires and others.
"Coaches and even the casual follower of the game with a passing interest should find it useful. It also includes other things that one needs to pay attention to as an umpire, such as diet, physical training and how to prepare for a match," he continued.
SEVEN-YEAR FIFA REFEREE CAREER
After ending a seven-year career as a FIFA referee in 1992, Bucknor concentrated on umpiring. In 1993 he was sent to South Africa by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as an experiment before being officially named an ICC umpire the following year. In all his time as an umpire, he always felt there was something about umpiring that was not being taught at the seminars held in his own country and the wider Caribbean.
"Over the years I have been questioning the kind of seminars that we have had in Jamaica and the Caribbean. We talk about the laws but not about how to umpire properly and what one does to ensure that he or she is able to umpire well," he said, explaining what prompted him to fill the gap.
The issue of conflict resolution was also a consideration.
"Another important thing that the book will deal with is conflict resolution, player versus player, and player versus umpire and so on. There is also sledging. Sledging is a part of the game but there is nothing in the law that really talks about that," he explained.
Bucknor, who went on the ICC list of eight full-time umpires when it was introduced over two years ago, said the scarcity of Caribbean umpires gave him the idea to write the book.
"What I was more concerned with was improving the officiating at the basic level. I thought if we could improve at the basic level then it follows logically that there will be a general improvement, which will allow us to get umpires performing in a way that would see them getting to the higher level."
In the meantime, Bucknor is preparing to head off to Zimbabwe in the latter part of May to officiate in the Test between that country and Australia. He will then move on to England for the series between the home team and New Zealand. That will see him adding to his record 89 Test matches, which took him past one-time record-holder Englishman Dickie Bird's 66.
Although he said he is not concentrating on his record, he would not mind reaching 100 Test matches.
"I will do as many as I can. Right now I am trying to survive until the next World Cup. There are about 12 Tests each year so it is not difficult to get to 100," he said.
If he stays that long in the game then he could establish another record, officiating in five straight World Cup finals.
"I'm working towards that in the hope that the ICC will still think I'm good enough by then to do it," said Bucknor, who at 57, maintains a rigorous training regimen.
He is looking leaner and fitter and believes age should not be a problem as he will be 61. Englishman David Shepherd, who shared duties with him last year, was 62 at the time.
