Paul Baldwin and Ben Debenham, the umpires standing at Lord’s for Middlesex CCC’s final game of the 2026 season, would have felt under greater pressure than normal as they officiated on the second day of the match against Northamptonshire. Not because the visitors dreams of gaining promotion to Rothesay Division 1 were on the line, but because there were dozens of their amateur contemporaries watching from the Pavilion.
For cricket to take place it needs scorers and umpires, and Middlesex in the Community used Day 2 of Middlesex’s county championship fixture to thank these volunteers for all their time and effort during the 2026 season. Approaching 100 officials were able to spend a day in the Pavilion at Lord’s, and they were invited to join MITC for a drink, chat and bite to eat on the Coronation Garden during the Tea interval.
At the gathering Angus Fraser, the External Relations Director of MITC, and Paul Nicholls, the Chair of the Middlesex Association of Cricket Officials (MACO), thanked all those that attended for their support of the game and wished them an enjoyable off-season.
Lord’s is a magnificent place to host gatherings like this and MITC would like to thank the MCC for allowing it to host its scorers and umpires on the Coronation Garden. MITC would also like to thank Middlesex’s Julie Blakesley and Haseeb Masud for their help in organising the day.
Cricket, like all sports, needs officials and can never have too many. And Middlesex is no different to any other county, in that it would like to have more.
Officiating is a great way to stay or become involved in cricket. It is extremely rewarding, even if the behaviour of the occasional player irks you, and good for your health. Middlesex Cricket and The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would love to have more scorers and umpires than it currently does and to encourage and upskill those that fancy giving it a go MITC, in association with the ECB, will be running winter scoring and umpiring courses.
The first of these, and ECB Umpiring Course, will take place at North London Cricket Club, Montenotte Road, London, N8 8RL on Sunday 11 October 2026. The course runs from 10am to 4.30pm. The Event Code for the course is 29NVJKM5FTG To book a place click on the following link - https://booking.ecb.co.uk/AoRvZ8
If this date doesn’t work for you but you would like to sign up to one of MITC’s scorers or umpires courses in the future, please contact [email protected]
Many Thanks and have good off-season – it will soon be April
