Female cricket umpires left right out at long-off
Good enough to umpire women all over the world but not good enough to umpire men’s first-class cricket in New Zealand: That’s the odd situation facing Kathy Cross who has been on the New Zealand first-class panel since 2003, without once getting the nod to umpire a men’s four-day game.
It is a situation her two sons, Cameron and Stephen, who are both Hutt Valley based policemen and senior cricketers, want addressed. NZ Cricket insists it selects all its umpires on merit and notes that Cross has umpired extensively overseas. That includes four women’s World Cups and 50 one-day internationals.
Cameron Cross is immensely proud of his mother’s achievements but is puzzled as to why she is consistently overlooked in her home country.
With the new government committed to equality, and rugby and football looking at wider issues regarding women, Cameron wants NZ Cricket to take a look at his mother’s situation.
‘‘The government is spreading the message that there should be more women at the top and why should cricket be any different?’’
Cameron believed his mother was clearly good enough to umpire first-class cricket and he wanted answers from NZ Cricket.
His mother declined to be interviewed but he said she was frustrated with the current situation.
NZ Cricket operations manager Catherine Campbell said selection for men’s first-class games was based solely on ‘‘merit’’ and NZ Cricket rated Cross very highly.
She had been a ‘‘trailblazer’’ for women in the sport but when it came to choosing umpires for firstclass cricket the only issue was who was best for the job.
Her record over a long time clearly showed she was a good umpire, Campbell said.
NZ Cricket was committed to making sure women, including match officials, could participate at every level. Campbell agreed that Cross could be seen as a positive role model if she had the opportunity to umpire men.
She was already mentoring other women umpires and Campbell hoped that what she had achieved already, inspired more women to try umpiring.
Neither Cameron or Stephen accept the merit argument.
Stephen said that by not appointing his mother to any games, she had been denied the opportunity to be judged on merit.
‘‘What does ‘merit’ mean? She has umpired at women’s World Cups throughout the world and got nothing but good appraisals.’’
NZ Cricket life member and former president of the International Women’s Cricket Council Mary Brito said she believed Cross was the ideal person for NZ Cricket to show it was serious about equality and she should be chosen to umpire men.