Which is suitable for you?
Social/junior cricket umpire
We appreciate that many new umpires don’t wish to umpire beyond casual social cricket and/or junior cricket. This might be for their local club, or because they are a coach or a parent and want to have a better grasp of how to umpire junior matches. Or, perhaps, you are a player who wants to get better at ‘doing your ten’.
If you already have a good understanding of the game of cricket you will not need extensive umpire training for this type of cricket, and a Surrey ACO Introduction to Umpiring and Intermediate Umpiring Course would be the best place to start.
These are introductory courses that cover some of the basics of umpiring as well as some of the frequently encountered but often misunderstood Laws.
Club Umpire
A Club Umpire is someone normally affiliated to a club that appoints the umpire to officiate in its own cricket matches. Often this will be for league matches where a panel umpire (see below) has not been appointed.
To umpire at this level you will need to have acquired a good understanding of the Laws of cricket, match playing regulations and umpire field craft.
The Surrey ACO Umpire Extension Course provides comprehensive coverage that will give you the tools you need to umpire at this level.
Panel Umpire
Cricket leagues up and down the country rely not only on a vast reservoir of Club Umpires but many will appoint independent panel umpires to officiate in the top divisions within their leagues. Leagues may require you to become an accredited ECB umpire and, in which case, you should initially attend the ECB Umpiring Course. This will place you on the formal ECB promotion pathway as a Level 6 accredited ECB Umpire.
The ECB course provides a rudimentary introduction to umpiring and to progress on to a panel you will need to acquire an extensive working knowledge of umpiring which you would normally obtain by umpiring for at least one season at club level and attending a Surrey ACO Umpire Extension Course.
Training courses
The training of umpires was significantly amended in 2023 with further changes being proposed from 2025 and Surrey ACO will be providing the following courses.
Introduction to Umpiring Courses
The Part 1 Introduction Course is aimed at beginners and will provide the skills needed to umpire Junior School Age softball cricket.
It covers:
- Standing at Bowler’s and Striker’s End
- Wides
- No Balls (front foot, over waist height, over head height)
- Common Signals (4, 6, out, wide, no ball, bye, leg bye)
- Main Methods of Dismissal (bowled, caught, run out, stumped, hit wicket)
Intermediate Umpiring Courses
The Part 2 Intermediate Course develops the skills from Part 1, so that people are confident to umpire teenage hard-ball cricket.
It covers:
- Signalling (a recap of those learned on Part 1, plus short run, revoking the last signal, penalty runs, and dead ball)
- Umpire’s Equipment
- ECB Directives (age-related restrictions)
- No balls (recap, plus ball bouncing more than once, ball rolling, ball coming to rest, limitation of leg side fielders, bowler breaking wicket in delivery stride, and fielder encroaching or intercepting delivery)
- Wides (recap, plus changes to the law regarding batter’s movement)
- Scoring runs (batter’s glove, byes, leg byes, and when runs can be scored)
- Methods of dismissal (recap, plus LBW and run-out of the non-striker)
- Counting balls in the over and signals to colleague around this
Surrey ACO is currently working with the Surrey Cricket Foundation to organise training for 2025 and details of these courses will be advertised here [link to “Forthcoming courses” page]
Qualified Umpire Courses
Surrey ACO are not currently responsible for the initial training of umpires and new umpires will need to attend a course organised by the ECB directly.
The Qualified Umpire Course is designed to give new umpires the key skills, knowledge and confidence to stand as an umpire in cricket.
No prior experience of umpiring in cricket is required before attending the course.
Whether you plan to support Junior Softball cricket through to adult cricket, this course will cover the following topics:
- Understanding the role of the umpire
- Gaining a basic understanding of umpiring the game
- Answering appeals and the common methods of dismissal
- Communicating effectively with all stakeholders in the game
- Judging whether or not it is safe to play
Learners will be asked to complete some e-learning prior to attending the course, which will take no more than 90 minutes to complete in total.
Pre-learning can be completed via multiple visits or in one go. Learners must be 14 years of age at the time of the course.
The cost of this course is £70.00. After completing it, learners will have the confidence and competence to go and umpire at appropriate levels within recreational cricket.
MCC Laws of Cricket e-Learning
The MCC has released a new state-of-the-art eLearning programme to assist with learning the Laws of Cricket. The Laws eLearning programme will guide everyone from the cricketing newcomer to the experienced umpire through all 42 Laws, with tips from the ICC’s Elite Umpires and footage from club, first-class and international cricket to illustrate the more complex points.
To begin, follow the instructions at: https://laws.lords.org/login/index.php
A full set of the Laws can be viewed at: https://lords-stg.azureedge.net/mediafiles/lords/media/documents/2nd-edition-of-the-2017-code-2019_1.pdf
Umpire Extension Course
If you are looking to umpire at the higher levels of the recreational game by becoming a Club Umpire or a Panel Umpire you will need further training to significantly expand your understanding of the Laws of cricket and your ability to analyse and apply league match regulations.
The 2-day Surrey ACO Extension Course will be an essential part of your development. The course includes:
- the role of the umpire and pre-match duties
- the more technical aspect of the Laws of cricket. including:
- how runs are scored
- the nine methods of dismissal
- fair and unfair play; and managing players’ behaviour
- Penalty time for absent fielders and runners for injured batters
- how to analyse and apply match playing regulations, including:
- impact of interruptions due to rain
- slow over rate penalties
- powerplays
- free hits
- field craft (i.e. how to umpire)
- Duty of care – including ECB Directives relating to young players
- player safety – including the ECB concussion protocol
You do not have to be a member of the ACO when booking the Extension Course as you can join the ACO after the course has been completed.