JSCA office within JRD Tata Sports Complex premises. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Aug. 17: Cricketing legends are made and unmade by a single decision taken by an umpire.

With so much responsibility vested in them, it is imperative that umpires refresh and uprade their technique. A seminar organised by the Jharkhand State Cricket Association from August 22-26 may well provide an opportunity for aspiring umpires — including women for the first time — to test their umpiring skills and get themselves promoted to the state level.

Seven women — three each from Jamshedpur and Ranchi and one from Simdega — will be part of a 43-member strong contingent of successful district candidates who have cleared the zonal examination.

Now, they will attend theory and viva sessions as the first part of a seminar — a qualifying exam in umpiring terminology — from August 22 to 24. Nagpur-based Bhoopinder Singh Bhatti, a Ranji panel umpire and level I tutor of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will conduct the examination, assisted by Somnath Jha, the lone BCCI panel umpire from the state.

According to Rajesh Verma, JSCA secretary, this will be followed by a two-day seminar exclusively for 57-odd state panel umpires, who, however, will not answer any exam but hone their skills by interacting with experienced umpires such as Bhatti and Jha.

“We don’t want to miss the opportunity of meeting Bhatti,” said a state level umpire from the steel city.

Jha, a former Bihar all-rounder who became a BCCI panel umpire in 2008, said such events gave ample opportunity for umpires to rise up the hierarchy. “Success in this exam will not only push them to the state-level but also give them experience to officiate district-level matches,” he said.

The seminar will also help bring out a new crop of umpires, Jha said, adding that women candidates officiate school matches and state-level under-19 ones, while non-state panel umpires officiate in local league matches of different affiliated districts of JSCA.