The Best Seat in the House - An interview with umpire Anna Harris

CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket Podcast

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Anna Harris has only been an umpire for 9 years but she has had a meteoric rise through the ranks to become an international umpire on the women's circuit and operating at just under first class level in the men's game.
We begin by talking about Anna's early life in High Wycombe and Brighton and how she started by picking up a plastic cricket bat at school aged 5. She talks about her development as a cricketer through Buckinghamshire's junior ranks. She was an England player in her late teens and kept up her playing when she came to University in Cardiff. Anna talks a little bit about her playing as a batter and a leg spin bowler.
She recounts her highest score of 124 at the Malvern Festival and turning the ball to take a wicket.
Her umpiring began as a way of making a little bit of pocket money but she took it up more seriously when she went on a gap year to Australia. She played cricket for Melbourne Cricket Club and umpired in the local Melbourne men's league.
Anna outlines the pathway that currently exists for men's and women's cricket umpiring and how she progressed as an umpire and how this has all changed even in the short time she has been umpiring. She now umpires in National Counties cricket and is on the panel for professional women's cricket in the UK. She is also on the panel of umpires for the ICC and can umpire in international women's matches.
We talk about some of the people that have inspired her development as an umpire and then some of the important moments in her career to date including being part of the first all female team to umpire in an ECB accredited men's premier league match and her international debut aged 22 years old.
Anna talks about her views on umpiring, where it sits in the game and what are the most important aspects of it for her. She confronts the fear that all umpires must have of making a mistake and also about the nature of the umpire's role, the way she turns her levels of concentration on and off. We talk about giving lbw decisions and how Anna prepares herself for these. She talks about the 42 laws of the game and the unwritten one, 43, that deals with the unexpected.
Anna talks about the controversial decision made at the England v India ODI and what it was like to be part of that as an umpire:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/sep/24/england-women-india-third-one-day-international-cricket
We then talk about a few od Anna's special memries so far as an umpire including the 2023 Ashes Series:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jun/26/england-australia-womens-ashes-test-match-ash-gardner-cricket-report
We talk about the things that Anna takes with her onto the field of play, the image of umpiring and then talk about how she came to Wales and how she has enjoyed her time here.
Finally, we talk about the future and what Anna wants to do with her life and her umpiring.
For those who want to hear Anna talk a a little bit more you can try these videos:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=656508298940893
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpMhmMeT6sk
And you can read this article from the ECB about the women's T20 World Cup in which Anna officiated.
You can follow Anna on X at a_y_harris