School Sports Australia
Under 15 National Cricket Championship
June 2015 - Darwin
Umpires from left: Harvey Wolff TAS, Glen Stubbings NSW, Nick Ferns VIC, Jayvan Ruddick-Collins
QLD, Jimmy Edwards SA, Andrew Cleghorn ACT, Hennie Botes WA and Lachlan Nolan NT.
Being lucky enough to be selected to represent Tasmania in the National Under 15 School Sports
Australia Cricket Championships and to be on annual leave at the same time, was a great start to the
carnival. After holidaying with my parents for a week, I flew out of Bundaberg to Brisbane then onto
Darwin arriving at about 12:30pm, meeting up with Andrew Cleghorn (ACT) and Jayvan Ruddick
Collins (QLD), who were both on the same flight from Brisbane.
Picking up our hire car, we were soon amongst some very fine people indeed, as Steve Waugh was
also sorting out his hire car arrangements. His boy was in the NSW’s side and I was looking forward
to umpiring him throughout the championships.
CA had arranged accommodation in the Novotel Atrium on the esplanade, which was just one street
away from the main street in Darwin. This was extremely handy to restaurants and food outlets,
providing supplies of water and supplements necessary to make it through the Carnival unscathed.
After checking in we all headed to Marrara Sports complex to take part in the opening Ceremony.
The umpires were lined up and, following the introduction of players, it was the umpires led by
myself holding the umpire banner who were presented to the tournament. As we walked along the
fence, we passed Steve Waugh who gave a quiet little comment of “that will be the only applause
you guys have ever gotten” and I heard the rest of the umpires chuckling behind me. We were not
even on the park and we were being chirped.
After the opening Ceremony we had an umpire Bylaws and Playing Conditions meeting and all of our
questions were answered. We then returned to the Atrium before heading out for some dinner, a
chicken parmy at Shenanigan’s.
The bunch of umpires all seemed quite nice and we enjoyed the local warm environment which was
already taking some getting used to. Championship outlook was 33deg every day with some cloudy
periods. Nice!
My first game was with a young 15 year old gentleman, Lachlan Nolan from the NT and we umpired
Victoria v Tasmania on the MCG2 Oval. This was a change from the original draw, but it was just
something we had to adjust to quickly. There was a nice breeze until about 1:30pm when the breeze
disappeared leaving us in a sweat box till about 3:00pm. This was the same for everyday of the
tournament. For a young 15 year old, Lachie has just so much potential and he will have taken on
board shiploads from his experiences both on and off the park. Well done young fella.
To free up the rest day the umpires decided to hold our 4 hour PD session after the game on Day 1,
so Wolfgang Woerner organised a meal and a library room for us at Kormilda College, and the rest is
history. Another very long day though and averaging about 5 hours sleep the first two nights.
My second game was with Jimmy Edwards from SA. A very nice bloke indeed, who could bowl quite
well in his cricketing career, so he tells us and of course we believed him. We umpired NSW v NT
again at MCG2 Oval, and of course the weather after some unseasonal overnight rain, was a balmy
34deg’s. We both had very solid games and I now have another good friend who lives in SA. Dinner
was a change up and we ventured out to Monsoons, nice!
The third day saw me umpiring with Glen Stubbings from NSW. We umpired QLD v NSW at Kormilda
College Oval which was in lower setting behind the college, so quite a hot little ground, but nice
pitch with good bounce and carry. Our communication was very good and we got on like a house on
fire, another 34deg day in sunny Darwin. Glen is a fantastic bloke and after the first innings we just
seem to be on the same wavelength, which was great to be a part off. Dinner tonight was at a place
called Outback Jack’s, and the ribs and chicken wings were very nice indeed.
A picture of the ‘Gardens Oval’ in Darwin.
Day 4 was a rest day and a catch up for many of the guys and a free day to do anything that the boys
wanted to do, a couple went out to Lichfield, some went to Crocasaurus and held onto some
crocodiles and some caught up with their washing and SA’s for the first 3 days of the carnival.
Semi Final Day, the top four umpires did not have any idea who they were umpiring till the morning
briefing at Breakfast. Umpiring QLD v Victoria at Kormilda College Oval, saw the two H’s together, as
I was teed up with my roommate Hennie Botes. We had talked about being flat some time during
the carnival and I had trouble sleeping and was flat for about 25 overs till I clicked into gear properly.
It was a good game to umpire. Dinner was at the Globes Hotel, as everywhere else seemed to be
booked out.
Finals day and the two H’s were selected to umpire together once again. The game was the play off
for 3 v 4, Victoria v WA on MCG2 Oval. It was another good game to umpire and I now have another
friend from WA.
After the games were completed, the Closing Ceremony was conducted with the Ricky Ponting Cup
being awarded to the NSW team and a representative team was announced. NSW was the
outstanding fielding side of the tournament and thoroughly deserved to win the Cup. The umpires
were all given a Sports Australia cap for their involvement in the Championship to which we had
another round of applause, thanks Steve!
Our last dinner was at the Fanny Bay Yacht Club, and we had about an hour and a half wait for our
meal ahead of us. Not because they were slow, but because it was so damn popular. Parking was
miles away and the oven grilled Barra with a garlic sauce was sen- bloody-sational.
A fantastic way to finish off what was a great Cricket Championship, which I was lucky enough to
have participated in!
A Selfy with Glen, Andrew & Company and some of my many of empty drink bottles on the right.
Thank you to Cricket Australia and School Sports Australia for allowing umpires from different States
to be invited to officiate in the Under 15 National Championships, and also a big thanks to Cricket
Tasmania for allowing myself a fantastic opportunity to learn and hone my umpiring skills to another
level.
It really was a win-win for all of the parties concerned.