VCA Umpires and Scorers Association
Fellowship amongst Cricket Umpires and Scorers
THE 2024/25 COMMITTEE
President: Vivek Kumar
Viv joined the CV umpiring panel in the 2014-15 season, having previously been involved with Queensland Cricket Umpiring panel (2012 -2013) and Dandenong District Cricket Association (2010 to 2012) In his early years he Played School and University cricket in India and migrated to Australia for the love of cricket and seeking better work life balance. Since joining our panel he has officiated in over 150 CV matches and has had the honour of officiating in three Grand Finals.
Viv is married to Amrutha and they have a son Hritwaugh (named after Viv’s idol- Steve Waugh)
Outside of Cricket, he is employed with Ricoh Australia and has extensive experience in Customer Relations and Support.
This year, Viv takes on the role of the VCAUSA President - a huge honour - and he is looking to continue the positive work of the VCAUSA representing all our Umpires
Vice President: Jamie Wyatt
Jamie joined the VCAUSA and CV Umpiring Panel in the 2000-01 season after umpiring in the Sub-District Cricket Association the previous year. Following three seasons as an umpire, he stepped back due to a change in work commitments and returned to playing, spending the next 11 years competing in the Bendigo and Mercantile Cricket Associations.
In the 2014-15 season, Jamie rejoined the CV Panel and has since officiated in 271 Premier matches across all grades. His involvement in the Easter Crockett Shield has been equally notable - starting as 12th man in 2001, playing in 2015, 2017, and 2019, and captaining the team in 2023.
Jamie joined the VCAUSA committee in the 2021-22 season and has served as vice president since 2022-23. He remains an active and dedicated contributor to the sport. Jamie is married to Rebecca and they have three children
Secretary: Gerry Schembri
Gerry joined the CV umpires’ panel in 2006 and has umpired over 300 Premier matches since then. Prior to joining the CV Panel, Gerry spent one season umpiring in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association after a twenty-year absence from the game due to family and business commitments. Gerry is a life member of the VCAUSA and has served on the Committee of Management in various roles since 2009. Gerry is also passionate about the biennial Easter Event with SACUSA and has been the Easter convenor since 2011. Outside of cricket, Gerry has worked in various professional accountant roles and is married to Sylvie and has two adult children. The 2024-25 season will again present plenty of challenges for our Association and I’m confident that our new committee of management is able and willing to represent our members in the season ahead.
Treasurer: Jeff Diamond-Smith
Jeff's love affair with cricket started a long time ago. remembering waking up in the middle of the night and hiding under the bed to listen to the ABC broadcast of either the Ashes or the West Indies tour, on his transistor radio. Jeff had an underwhelming career on the field as a right-hand, opening batsman and a left-arm Chinaman bowler. and made a couple of centuries but J Grade on the mats isn’t exactly the MCG! When family commitments and a bad back curtailed a floundering career, Jeff decided that he wanted to stay involved and took up umpiring. He spent 11 seasons with the VTCA officiating in 10 Grand Finals and met such luminaries such as Paul Jensen and Bob Parry. At the end of the 2006-7 season Jeff decided to further his umpiring career and joined the Cricket Victoria panel and he is still enjoying it 16 years later. He gets great support from his wife, Leanne, and three children, who are all now in their 20s, and who know that their father won’t be around the house in Summer on a Saturday and the occasional Sunday. Upon retirement, Jeff took up volunteer work, under the guidance of the late VCAUSA President Alan McCarthy, and tour guiding at the MCG. He now uses his experience service as Treasurer on the Committee of Management of the VCAUSA.
Committee Member: Dan Bomford
Dan joined the CV umpires panel in 1979 and is one of three panel members to have exceeded 600 Premier (or higher level) matches, the majority in Premier Firsts. With his history in 1st XI Matches, Dan is a member of the prestigious CV200 Club.
Dan has served the Association in the roles of Secretary (ten seasons, 1985-6 to 1987-8 and 2010-11 to 2016-17), Treasurer (12 seasons, 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1993-94 to 2002-03), Vice-President (five seasons, 2005-06 to 2009-10) and has been a Committee Member for the past six seasons. He was awarded Life Membership of the Association in 1989.
Dan and wife Bernadette enjoy their family life with three children and seven grandchildren and somehow he finds the time for his other loves, exercising and running half marathons, and goal umpiring during the “off-season.”
Committee Member: Rochelle Rodrigues
Rochelle joined in the CV panel in 2022-23. She's played premier cricket for 6 years and community cricket for a year or two before hanging up her boots and joining the umpiring panel to stay connected to the game. Rochelle has played State Cricket for two states in India before she came to Australia in 2013. An ardent fan of the game she is is well versed with its ins and outs and thoroughly enjoys having the best seat in the house and being part of the action with every ball as an umpire. Outside of Cricket, Rochelle is an ICT Project Manager and runs her own consultancy providing Professional Services on systems implementation projects. And further outside of work and Cricket, she loves country music and going for a ride on her motorbike with a couple of friends over a weekend
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Committee Member: Damian Herft
Damian joined the CV Umpiring Panel in 1999 and umpired a total of 397 matches, 298 of them in Premier Cricket and 239 of those in 1st Grade. With 200+ 1st XI matches, Damian is a member of the prestigious CV200 Club.
Prior to joining the CV Umpiring Panel, Damian umpired one season in Sub-District Cricket and one in Dandenong District Cricket Association and before taking on umpiring, Damian also played Community Cricket for 20 seasons, primarily with Moonee Ponds Cricket Club, where he was elected to Life Membership in 1992. Damian retired from on-field umpiring at the end of season 2016-17 and was a Cricket Australia Match Referee from 2017-2020, overseeing 52 Cricket Australia matches. Damian was also the CV State Umpire Development Coach and Umpire Selector for 5 years until November 2024.
Damian previously worked for Telstra for 38 years and now works for Cricket Australia with the National Teams. He has been on the VCAUSA Committee since 2017, and he is now primarily responsible for the maintenance of the VCAUSA Website. Damian enjoys sunset photography and is also the photographer for most VCAUSA Events. He is married to Caroline and they have one adult son
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Committee Member: Patrick Mathews
Patrick joined the Premier Umpiring Panel in 2021 and has umpired over fifty matches in Victorian Premier Cricket, including a Men’s 2ndXI and Women’s 1st XI Grand Final, along with receiving the Men’s 2ndXI Umpire of the Year Award in his first season. Patrick joined the VCAUSA in 2022 and is serving his first year as a General Committee Member for the VCAUSA in the 2024/25 season. Before joining Victorian Premier Cricket, Patrick began his cricket umpiring journey in the Ringwood District Cricket Association (RDCA) in 2014/15, followed by a further six seasons at the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association (VSDCA) until the end of the 2020/21 season. During the winter months, Patrick is also an Australian Football Field Umpire, which, as his Dad helpfully points out, means he is a maggot all twelve months of the year! Patrick has umpired and coached in the Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) and, more recently, in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), which included four seasons on the Victorian Amateur Football Association Umpires Association (VAFAUA) Committee, three of which as Secretary and VAFA Umpire Sub-Committee delegate. Patrick has recently finished a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and is working towards becoming a Barrister
Committee Member: Josh Hallam
Traveling down from Ballarat, Josh joined the CV panel in the 2018-19 season and has officiated in 75 games across the Fourths through Seconds. He has also stood in a third XI Grand Final. In addition to umpiring, Josh has just commenced his 14th season on his local cricket club committee and he is also a part of the BCA Female Cricket Subcommittee & team manager for his club’s women’s team. Beyond Cricket, Josh is engaged to Sharra, his partner of 12+ years. Josh works for MaxiTRANS, a truck trailer manufacturing company based out of Ballarat. Josh has been a member of the VCAUSA since he commenced with CV & after representing the Vics in Adelaide this year he is very excited to welcome both the VCAUSA & SACUSA to his home club in Ballarat for Easter 2025.
Committee Member: Robert Pryde
Rob is in his second year on the Premier panel after 3 years umpiring in the TDCA (Traralgon District Cricket Association). After moving from Traralgon to Melbourne with his wife Tara, Rob chose to challenge his umpiring abilities and join the panel and thoroughly enjoyed his first year and as a member of the VCAUSA. He joins the committee this year as well trying his hand as the editor of law 43
Committee Member: Jay Blanchard Lewis
As a Brit raised in Spain, I've had an unusual route into Victorian Cricket, but it's been a great couple of seasons so far. I've been umpiring cricket since 2012, starting at club level and within schools, then starting to take appointments within my UK county (Cambridgeshire) and moving up the leagues. In addition to league fixtures, I've umpired university matches (the highlight of these being the Oxford V Cambridge Varsity Match, with a decent crowd of spirited undergraduates heckling both teams), as well as juniors and seniors across all age ranges. In my first three months living in Australia, I umpired 17 matches across rural Victoria and Melbourne, learning as much about rural Vic as I did about local cricket regulations.
Outside the world of cricket, I teach English, Literature, and Latin full time, play hockey and squash, and recently moved to Fairfield. I have an Australian brother, Will, who has also been taking me to watch footy, which I have grown to enjoy immensely. I'm excited to be involved with the VCAUSA Committee and will be looking to take on roles around education, diversity, and membership welfare.
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Scorer Representative: Mike Ringham
Mike started scoring at school in England in 1947. He had a short break in 1954 when he became the Chef’s Writer on the R.M.S. ”Himalaya”. In 1955 he met a passenger on a blind date, got engaged on their fifth date and migrated to Melbourne and married his sweetheart, Margaret, in 1956. They had two daughters, Joanne, the oncology nurse at Rosebud Hospital and Susan, a dental assistant in Melbourne. They also had two sons, Matthew and Adam.
Mike joined the Essendon Cricket Club as 2nd XI scorer in 1956 and became the 1st XI scorer in 1960 and joined the First-class panel in 1964. A move to the M.C.C. took place in 1975 where Mike took over the 1st XI as well as the duties of Club Statistician, which he has continued for the past 49 years. Mike stood down from scoring in 1991 due to promotion as Schedule Planning Manager at Ansett Airlines. He retired 1996 due to Margaret’s ill health and was able to take up his pen again. Another break came in 2010 when they moved to Rosebud, where Margaret passed away in 2017.
The Beaumaris complex opened in 2018 and Mike was able to resumed his scoring with the 3rd and 4th XI’s. In 2019 he transferred to the Women’s Seconds and the Women’s Under 18 Teams.
Since he resumed scoring in 1956, he has scored nearly 1200 matches, including 40 Test Matches and travelled to England for the 2nd and 3rd World Cup Competitions as well as the 1985 Ashes Tour. He was appointed for the 1989 Ashes Tour but had to pull out because of his wife’s poor health.
Mike has tried since the 1980s to get the hierarchy to train scorers in the fundamental rules of scoring, and to familiarise them with the Laws that affect scoring. He has finally succeeded with his ambition and ran the first scorer “Education Session”, with the support of Cricket Victoria, on 28th August 2024, with a further session planned