Irish umpire Roland Black is named officiate of the ICC Men's U19 World Cup
Black, who has been a referee since 2006, is one of four members of Cricket Ireland's International Umpires Panel and part of the world-class Irish refereeing panel. He was a referee at the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 and the ICC U19 Men's World Cup 2020 in South Africa.
The 2022 tournament will take place from January 14th to February 5th. The Irish men's U19 team qualified for the event in September.
From home, Black said:
“I'm really looking forward to the opportunity - being able to concentrate on my refereeing work for a longer period of time gives me the chance to work on improving and fine-tuning my game. I admit it will also be a bonus not to wake up on a cold, dark January morning! "
“I'm flying to St. Kitts and Nevis on New Year's Day and expect to be quarantined at the hotel for several days. If all goes well, I then meet with the rest of the lead team for tournament preparations and workshops. I have yet to figure out exactly which matches I will be playing in, but I know there will be four locations in the Caribbean for the event and the ICC will be posting schedules - including practice games - shortly before the tournament.
Schwarz has never visited the Caribbean, let alone re-pirated there, so he is enthusiastic about the challenge:
“I've never been to this part of the world so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to referee in the four host countries. I really enjoy visiting new turf for the first time and I had a good long chat with [English referee] Ian Gould the other day to try to use his knowledge of Caribbean refereeing throughout his career. I was very interested in getting an idea of how the courses would play, what to expect with the weather and the logistics and the challenges of traveling between different countries. "
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“I officiated at the last U19 World Cup in South Africa in early 2020, so I'll try to build on that experience. A U19 World Cup is an opportunity for future stars to show what they can and in South Africa I noted five players from the entire tournament who really impressed me. It was interesting to watch their progress from afar as these names appear in national T20 competitions or are included in their full international teams. "
“Being a referee at an event like this gives me the opportunity to work with officials from all over the world. Any little tips I pick up that I think will be of use will be brought back and shared with my fellow referees in Ireland. "
On the latest news, the Irish men's U19 squad and coaching staff have all passed their pre-departure COVID tests and will be flying to the Caribbean tomorrow.
The Tournament
Ireland secured qualification for the event by winning the ICC U19 World Cup European Championship qualifier in September.
The tournament will take place between January 14th and February 5th, 2022, with 16 teams competing for the title considered to be the pinnacle of youth cricketers around the world. The competition consists of four groups of four teams each, with the top two in each group going into the Super League phase of the tournament to determine the tournament winner. The teams that finish third and fourth in each group enter a plate play-off.