For J. Tarakeswara Rao, the former Andhra Cricket Association panel umpire and qualified scorer, it is a different kind of experience when he is asked by the Willow Cricket Academy - a part of the American Cricket Enterprise, a strategic partner of USA Cricket - to develop a training programme and content for junior and youth players.
“This is quite challenging and I am really enjoying it,” says Tarak, who first officiated as an on-field umpire in the Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (VDCA) matches in 2000.
Tarak moved to the U.S. in 2012 and has been associated with the Triangle Cricket League in Morrisville (North Carolina, affiliated to USA Cricket) and slowly made his mark in the cricketing circles there. “I am grateful to Morrisville for letting me on their umpiring panel and now I am a registered umpire with USA Cricket,” he said.
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“Well, after being selected by the ACA to appear for examinations to qualify to be a BCCI umpire in 2008, I had to put a pause to my umpiring career despite getting through the written examination before moving over to U.S.,” Tarak recalls.
Scorer duties
“At the same time I also developed interest and improved my skills as scorer thanks to the VDCA support and successfully passed the BCCI Panel Statisticians and Scorers Examination in 2004,” he says.
“The transition from being a ‘box’ method of manual scoring to ‘linear’ scoring was also pretty smooth thanks to my seniors in the field. And, in 2005, I completed the BCCI’s computerised online scoring and later officiated in three ODIs with the first one being the India-West Indies match in Vijayawada in 2002 besides many Inter-State matches,” Tarak explains.
“Definitely, I hope to do full justice to any assignment given by the USA Cricket and live up to the expectations as I just can’t be away from cricket which I love so much,” he concludes.
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