Angara gets ICC Umpire recognition

THABANG REGOENG

Long serving local cricket umpire Ravi Angara has been inducted in to the newly appointed International Cricket Council (ICC) Development Panel of International Umpires for 2017.The well-established umpire has been serving the BCA, Botswana  Cricket Umpires & Scorers Association (BCUSA) for a decade now was nominated by his fellow umpire panel to represent Botswana.
Coupled with the BCUSA Secretary demands and BCA event calendar events, Angara has been able to aid in the development of cricket in Botswana. The 38 year old has worked with the Men’s national team and youth teams in under 13,15 & Under 19 age groups.The nomination also came in with a bit of history since the invention of the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA) with Angara being the first local umpire to make entrance in such a high caliber of panelists.
“Getting added to the panel is really a great achievement and I am privileged to be the first one from Botswana to be on the development panel. It was an opportunity that opened up late last year when ICC asked for nominating one umpire for this panel and I am thankful for BCA for having faith in nominating my name”, Angara told Gazette Sport.
The newly added ICC umpire panelist further lauded BCA for the development of local cricket down the years.
“There is a lot of change in the standard of umpiring since we started, we have a lot of committed members who are willing to learn and improve,” he stated.
While the nomination comes with its own responsibilities,Angara stressed it will be challenging for him to manage umpiring and family commitments.
“It will be challenging to manage work, family and umpiring. I will have to be regularly officiating in domestic games and prepare hard to be ready for regional and international appointments. However I will have to make a plan for it accordingly so that equal importance is given,”Angara concluded.
Angara joins 34 other umpires from across the world and is amongst five from the African continent.