In 2022 Isaac Hall from Oxfordshire became one of the youngest umpires in the country to officiate at the 2022 Bunbury Festival at the age of just 17.
Isaac who also plays cricket himself at Didcot CC has had a remarkably quick rise to umpiring which he took up at the age of 14 and since then has gone on to umpire at various different levels which include both club cricket and representative cricket.
His 2022 summer saw him umpire at the 2022 Bunbury Festival, ECB U13 and U15 Boys Club Finals and the National U15 Club finals which took place at Arundel Castle.
With the upcoming season, we spoke to Isaac who reflected on his journey so far, the 2022 season and what he is looking forward to this summer.
Reflecting on the 2022 summer, his development so far and the upcoming season Isaac Hall said:
“I’ve been into cricket for as long as I can remember. I played for my club, Didcot and also on the Oxfordshire pathway. I have always liked all aspects of the game and when my dad did his umpiring course I asked about doing it as well – I’d already umpired some club U11 matches. I did the Stage 1 and 2 courses at Tiddington over the winter, when I was 13, and then started standing in pathway games like the Ellandun festival the following summer. As well as Ellandun and other pathway matches, I umpired Oxfordshire Ladies, Oxford University Ladies and Oxfordshire 50+. I’ve been mentored by Ian Royle (the county umpire development officer) and he nominated me to stand in the English Schools finals. I did the U15 final at Oakham school, which was a great experience. After the game, I was invited to go to the prestigious Bunbury Festival at Loughborough.
Bunbury was a great experience: I’ve had mentoring and feedback after every game from some senior umpires and the match analysts. It was a great learning and development experience and enjoyed putting my new skills into practice at other finals I was asked to do at Rugby School and Arundel Castle. I’m looking forward to the 2023 season and continuing to improve my umpiring performance and gaining more experience, including standing in my first Cherwell League matches..”
David Elworthy, ECB Senior Manager for Recreational Officiating said
“I’m delighted to see the passion and commitment to umpiring that Isaac has shown over the 2022 season, in such a young individual. Through his activities with family and at his club (Didcot CC), Isaac got in to umpiring early in his cricket life, a proper “badger” in his words.
Through Isaac’s dedication to umpiring at the club, and with support from his parents (dad is an umpire), Isaac was offered an opportunity to take the field in the ESCA U15’s Boys Finals, at Oakham School, where his passion for umpiring and delivering a great experience for the players shone through.
Further opportunities saw Isaac stand in the ECB U15 & U13 Boys Finals, held at Rugby School and this all culminated with selection to umpire at the prestigious Bunbury Festival, where he officiated the top players within England’s age group. The experience that Isaac got from umpiring “through the camera lens for every ball” really provided the next level of analysis and coaching for him, that he has thoroughly embraced.
Isaac journey through 2022 has been a real success story for Oxfordshire ACO and his club of Didcot and we look forward to continuing with supporting Isaac’s umpiring journey in 2023.”
Ian Royle, County Education and Development Officer for the Oxfordshire ECB ACO said:
From having stood with Isaac as he did a few overs in a Wednesday evening Down’s League fixture on Steventon Green to officially observing him standing in the ESCA U15 T20 finals at Arundel Castle the progress in his umpiring in a few short years has been a joy to behold.
His calmness, confidence and professionalism both on the field and around it belies his age and relative inexperience and all of these qualities have also been recognised by ECB ACO with the appointments he have been given over the past season.
He has completed the ACO Stages One, Two and Three Umpire education courses and contributed greatly to all of those courses whilst surrounded by those with many more years under their belts – even out scoring his dad on the MCC Laws test on the Stage Three course (much to dad’s annoyance!)
He is still playing regularly for Didcot 2’s and he can continue to do so, mixing this in with umpiring to get the best of both worlds and we hope to see him progressing as both a player and an umpire in the coming seasons