How top official keeps focus Umpire with right routine
THERE is a lot of pressure on an umpire’s shoulders but, according to John Baldwin, it is all about routine.
As the batsman taps three times, adjusts his thigh guard and focuses in to face the next delivery, Baldwin is going through his own process. It is all in an effort to keep concentration for each delivery.
“Routine is key,” Baldwin said. “As you know, the bowler is reaching the top of their mark, you snap in. Maybe check your feet, check your hands to make sure you’re in the right spot.
“Then it is about having your head in the right spot, having your eyes in the right place – you go through a conversation in your head. By the time the bowler goes past you, you’re ready.
“It is muscle memory but it is wise to stick it on the front burner of focus on it.
“You have to make sure your switch-off time is working as well – it might be answering a quick question from the nonstriker or checking out a bird flying past.”
Baldwin said losing concentration was the bane of an umpire’s existence, and invariably happened as the ball crashed into the front pad.
But that came back to having a routine and the right preparation.
Baldwin’s impressive strike rate on the field has seen the umpire named community match official of the year at the Queensland Cricket “A Sport for All” awards.
The award was a humbling experience for the black and white, who only became involved in an umpiring capacity six years ago.
“If you are thinking about (awards), you are thinking your brain and about yourself, and if you are thinking about yourself, you are not thinking about your job on the field,” he said.
“A game of cricket is about the players and two captains running a game. My job is just to help them run that game within the laws.
“If you take it that way and apply a little bit of humility – you end up in the background.
“An umpire in cricket is like a referee on the football field; the game you don’t notice the referee on the field – that is the game that was refereed correctly.”
While he is a standout among his field in North Queensland, Baldwin said he didn’t consider himself a “good” umpire but one who was continuously learning.
“I don’t go out and think I am a good umpire, I am just trying to do the best job I can,” he said.