Springer: Umpire shortage needs addressing

There is a shortage of qualified cricket umpires in the Leeward Islands and this must be addressed if the sub-region is to avert a crisis.
This is the belief of Cricket Operations Officer with the Leeward Islands Cricket Board, Vernon Springer, who said the body often struggles to find enough qualified umpires for any one tournament.
Currently, all the umpires employed during the ongoing Leeward Islands 50 overs tournament here, are from Antigua, which, according to Springer, has raised the eyebrows of some.
“The reality of the fact is just that, at this time we can’t afford to fly in a Leeward umpires’ panel and so, because of that situation, this is something that we seriously have to address. We had flown in umpires to Anguilla for the under-15 tournament because there are no qualified umpires in Anguilla, none in the BVI, none in the USVI and I think there is only one in Montserrat,” he said.
“In Nevis, the only qualified umpire there is Carl Tuckett, St Kitts has nobody on the list now and the latest person to have come through in Antigua is Sylvester “Bouncing” Joseph,” he added. 
Springer said efforts are being made to rectify the potential crisis.
“We’re speaking to the Leeward Islands Cricket Umpires Association and asking what help they want so that we could start promoting and getting a couple of young umpires. The West Indies High Performance Center is going to be moving here so at some point in time, almost all the West Indies camps are going to be here,” he said.
“We have to start positioning ourselves to say how are we going to take advantage of this investment made by the Antigua & Barbuda government,” he added
Matches scheduled in the LICB 50 overs competition for today were abandoned because of saturated outfields. The competition is slated to continue on Saturday.