Anyone for umpiring?

Men in white coats urgently required. Equable temperament essential, flexible index fingers preferred. Please apply to almost any league in the country.

From Durham to Surrey the pattern seems to be the same: there are simply not enough umpires to go round. The sight of a player donning a white coat and standing in as square-leg umpire at both ends, normally a feature only in the lower leagues, is becoming more and more common further up the league ladder.

"It's a potentially serious situation," says Frank Kemp, the ECB's recreational cricket manager. Previously the love of the game was usually sufficient attraction for most umpires but some senior leagues are now having to devise incentive schemes. The Durham Coast League were so desperate that they offered to buy any new umpires a white coat and a copy of Tom Smith's umpiring bible and to pay for any extra training.

On most weekends this season the Coast League will be able to call on only 10 to 12 umpires. In a competition of 12 clubs with two teams each that shortage means that most second-team games have no qualified umpires at all. "There's a massive shortage at the moment," said Keith Sutherland, the secretary of the Durham Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association. "Sometimes other leagues are able to help out with spare umpires but usually that's not the case and players have to stand at both ends."

The Surrey Championship has advertised for officials in recent years but to little effect. "It's not just a problem with numbers, it's the availability as well," says David Edwards, secretary of the Surrey Championship. "A lot of umpires simply don't want to stand every weekend." The most serious aspect of the current situation, Edwards believes, is that younger umpires are not coming into the system. So the present problems are likely to get worse.

"I haven't worked out the average age of umpires in our league because I might frighten myself," says Edwards. "What we're missing out on is players moving into umpiring. I've lost count of the number of players who tell me they're in their last year, so I suggest that they take up umpiring. Their response is usually `What? And put up with the stick every weekend?' That's a shame because there's no doubt it's a great advantage to have played the game recently."

One potential solution that the Surrey Championship is looking at is the rapid promotion of promising umpires. "If we see someone on our courses who shows real potential, we might fast-track them, get them qualified more quickly so that we can have them standing in championship games as soon as possible."

So any recently retired players who are missing their time in the middle should be aware: your league needs your services, urgently.