Umpires to be allowed to continue until 70

England's first-class umpires will be allowed to continue until they are 70 if the British government accepts European Union legislation which will make it illegal to forcibly retire any employee before that age. At the moment umpires have to retire at 65, but many of them believe that this age limit is too low and makes no allowance for individual ability.

Allan Jones, the chairman of the First-Class Umpires Association, will discuss the legislation with the ECB. "It will come in too late for some of our members and I do not know yet how our contracts, which are renewable after one to three years, will affect us," he told The Times. "We shall probably have to be given more stringent medical checks. Someone who wants to continue until he is 70 will be able to do so."

An ECB spokesman told the newspaper: "I understand that the legislation will be phased in and organisations would still be able to contract employees to retire at a certain date."