Saudi Cricket Center (SCC) has started its first of the two Level-1 umpiring courses in Dammam Wednesday. Hamid Afandi, Manager Operations, SCC, said that these courses are being organized under the auspicious of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to upgrade the standard of umpiring in Saudi Arabia. The second course will be conducted in Jeddah from Sept. 12, 2011. ACC has appointed Bomi Jamula, a renowned member of ACC Educator's Panel and BCCI umpire. Born on July 26, 1953 in New Bombay, Maharashtra, Jamula became a professional umpire in 1982 and after an illustrious domestic career he stepped into the international scene in 1990. He holds a rare distinction of getting qualified from both India and England for Level-III umpires' accreditation. At present, he is working for BCCI and has also been included in the ACC umpiring educators' panel since 2010. His vast experience will be of great chance for the umpires here to gain knowledge. In March 2010 ACC decided to train and educate the umpires associated with the member countries by holding elementary umpiring courses in the respective countries. For this purpose ACC organized educator's courses in 2010-11 to train nominated members from each country as umpires' educators. Hamid Afandi and Khalil Kazi were selected by SCC and were later appointed as umpiring educators for Saudi Arabia. SCC has conducted five elementary courses in 2010 and 2011 where more than 80 umpires from all over the Kingdom were educated and trained. Hamid Afandi will be coordinating Jeddah event while Ahsan Raza is in charge of Dammam course.
