Umpiring ....Lesson One ...Always watch the ball

An umpire in West Yorkshire was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull after he was hit on the head by a throw from the boundary last Saturday, says a report published in the Halifax 'Evening Courier' on Tuesday. The incident which occurred in an Airedale and Wharfedale League Division 2 match, has frightening echoes of the death of Welsh umpire Alcwyn Jenkins in Swansea last July (E-News 601-3017, 5 May 2010), however, reports suggest that umpire John Whittaker is expected to recover.

The 'Courier' says that Whittaker, who is reported to be in his mid-sixties, was at square leg when he was hit on the head by a throw from the boundary. Halifax league secretary Keith Goulden, whose son Chris is the Illingworth team captain, witnessed the accident and was quoted by the 'Courier' as saying that the ball, which was thrown by fielder Luke Brooksby, hit Whittaker on the side of the head, lacerating his left ear". "John went straight to the ground", said Goulden, and "was unconcious for about two minutes".

Players immediately put the umpire into the recovery position and covered him with blankets to keep him warm, monitoring his breathing until he gained conciousness, however, he "was completely disorientated" says Gouden. An ambulance was called and it took him to hospital where he was, on Monday, being kept under observation in the neurological unit. A hospital spokesman told the 'Courier' that Whittaker's condition was stable.

Illingworth Club president Andrew Smith said that "everyone, both ourselves and [the opposing side] Harden, were upset", especially Brooksby. Smith labelled the incident "just an absolute freak accident" and there is a "one-in-five-million chance" of it occurring for he has never seen anything like it before in "watching and playing cricket [over the last] fifty-off years".



Play, which was stopped with three overs to go in the first innings of the one-day match, resumed after the ambulance departed, Goulden taking over umpire duties for the rest of the match.

A Yorkshireman injured by a hit on the head? Blimey, that must have been a seriously hard throw!

A chilling tale and something which you constantly overlook as a spectator.

Basil wrote:A Yorkshireman injured by a hit on the head? Blimey, that must have been a seriously hard throw!

would still have missed his brain by several feet

[snigger]

rofl

Turncoat!

phurt...us yokies love a joke...eg boycs is one of our favourite sons

So MB, ever suffered any injuries while umping?

A pulled hammy while darting into the run out postion? RSI from signalling boundaries? A blow in the 'ead because it came back at you like a bullet, never had a chance to move?

Been hit in the leg at point by a left hander playing a cut shot that went like a bullet ...ball still went for four

Jeff Brookes had a really nasty bruise on his guts when Pomersbach hit him in a Shield game with a pull shot

Sucked in for being too lazy to go to Square Leg.

It was a sunlight issue ...rather than a laziness issue ....the lines disappear after 5pm if you are lookung towards the sun

Try

An excellent thread, embee.

And one that I anticipate will greatly increase membership as young, prospective umpires google "Umpiring ....Lesson One"

Well done MB

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