The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is well underway and aside from the top quality players on display from all four corners of the world, there is a strong team of Match Officials from across the Caribbean, north America and beyond who are ensuring that the highest possible standards are being met.

In an exclusive interview with www.cplt20.com, South African umpire Johan Cloete, who alongside Australian John Ward is a member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Panel of Umpires, discusses his role with Hero CPL, his own pathway, the role senior Referees and Umpires will play for the development of West Indies Match Officials over the course of the tournament and his hopes for the Hero CPL.

Cloete, 44, has to date stood in 60 One-Day Internationals (ODI’s) and 23 T20I’s since making his international debut in 2009.

Cloete on the importance of pre-match Preparation: “I think that it’s important to set an example for how they need to grow into the role and how important preparation is, because it’s not all about pitching up at a match, get on the park and make a couple of decisions. It also requires much more preparations around it. For instance, one small thing is that with rain forecast, we might have rain interruptions. Luckily it didn’t happen, but we were prepared for it.

“The dew factor, for instance, we’re well prepared for it in advance and making sure that there’s roping of the ground and organising that even the day before. There’s lots around the management of matches that people don’t really know or understand about what the umpires are involved in to make sure that a match runs smoothly.

“The second worst part of cricket is watching rain. The worst part is when it’s not raining and it’s too wet to play. The sun’s shining but you still can’t play!”
Click HERE to access and download the full interview.