Blind Cricket England & Wales are sad to learn of the passing of our former Head Umpire, Pete Marshall.
Along with Dave Townley it was Pete who had the idea to create the blind cricket umpires panel at the end of the 2009 season. Pete subsequently set up the panel and managed it for its first three seasons. This included signing up umpires, appointing them to matches & arranging a sponsor to fund the provision of umpires kit for all BCEW officials.
Pete also officiated at a number of Primary Club Cup and BCEW Twenty20 Cup Finals, including the 2010 Primary Club Cup Final at Hampshire CCC’s Rose Bowl Ground, as pictured. In 2012 Pete was named BCEW Umpire of the Year after a season in which he was one of the umpires for the Blind Cricket Ashes Series when England hosted Australia.
The thoughts & sincerest best wishes of everyone at Blind Cricket England & Wales go out to Pete’s family and friends. In Pete’s memory a minutes silence will be held at all three Primary Club Cup Quarter Finals that are being played on Saturday 7th June; Northants Steelbacks v Yorkshire Vikings, Somerset VICC v London Metro & Sussex Sharks v Surrey VICC.
BCEW Business & Competitions Director Dave Gavrilovic commented:
“Such sad news. Pete got an enormous amount of enjoyment out of umpiring & really cared that others did too. He spent countless hours both working with umpires to help them improve their confidence & fieldcraft as well as speaking with our teams to find out how they felt umpires could better work with them during matches. We were very sorry when Pete decided to move on to new challenges after the 2012 season & it’s a real shame that we now won’t get the chance to see him again to thank him for all that he did for our sport.
Rest in Peace Pete, you were a friend & a much valued colleague.”
BCEW Development Director John Garbett added:
“Very sad news. Pete certainly did an amazing job pushing our umpires panel along in those early days and made things much more professional. He was a man who really cared about both our teams and his fellow officials.
“Thoughts are with his family … Rest in peace Pete.”