This coming weekend sees the start of a very busy autumn touring season for cricket on Malta as Ladymead Club from England are the first of six visiting clubs. They started their programme yesterday with a match against Marsa and will be playing them again today at 10.30am.

Malta Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (MACU&S) will be providing the officials in charge of all the matches drawn from a panel appointed the games.

Four MACU&S members, Wally Glynn, John Appleyard, Pierre Naudi and Phillip Gibbs will be assisted by four experienced umpires from the UK. Donald MacLeod is a Middlesex County League umpire as well as umpiring for the MCC the most prestigious club in the world, Steve Ross umpires in the Rutland and Cambridgeshire League, Mike Heritage is the Deputy Training Officer for the South East Region of the

ACU&S in England and from Wales comes Simon Green who umpires in the South Wales League.

From 9 to 11 November, after the touring season, Malta ACU&S is organising a weekend umpiring training course which will qualify successful participants to umpire anywhere in the world. The Course director will be Graham Cooper who is the European Umpires Consultant responsible for all umpires training throughout Europe.

This course is already oversubscribed but if anyone interested in cricket feels they would like to take up umpiring they are invited to make contact via the Malta Cricket Association website www.maltacricket.biz