Fred Bernard Umpires County Championship
It’s the sort of event that for most happens only in dreams. There’s a crisis on the stage or the pitch. One of the principals cannot continue; no substitute is available. An appeal is made. Someone who came just to watch is translated to the thick of events – on the way, perhaps, to a whole new career. Something similar happened last week at Scarborough to Fred Bernard, who found himself summoned on to the ground in front of a crowd of 4,000 for Yorkshire’s game against Sussex. As an umpire, not as a player; even so, it must have been an exhilarating moment for a man of 75. The call for a qualified umpire had gone out after one of the two who were standing was taken ill. Mr Bernard, who officiates every Saturday in the town’s Beckett Cricket League, found himself adjudicating the fortunes of Test-level cricketers – not, by the rules laid down for such occasions, at the bowler’s end, but still at square leg, from where run-outs and stumpings may have to be judged.
Happily, this was on Thursday rather than the following day, when controversy erupted over a catch claimed by a Sussex fielder to dismiss the young Yorkshire batsman Joe Root, whose score stood at 160. The umpires’ acceptance brought loud complaints from the crowd, and, according to the Guardian’s correspondent, upset the Yorkshire dressing room too. As it was, Mr Bernard got through his two stints without the slightest whiff of controversy. And next spring, he can hope for the ultimate accolade: his name in Wisden.