Humpage is umpires’ star guest

The Bassetlaw Umpires’ Association hold their monthly meeting at the Cuckney Cricket Centre on Saturday, 1st March when the guest will be the former England One-Day International and Warwickshire wicketkeeper-batsman Geoff Humpage.

Humpage was one of the five Wisden cricketers of the year in 1985 when he scored 1,891 first class runs as well as a host of dismissals. Only six times has this figure been beaten in the English game, four times by Les Ames, once by Jim Parks and once by J. R. Freeman of Essex.

The incredible thing about Humpage’s performance is that he did his deed in nine fewer matches than Parks and a dozen less than Ames.

With the brilliant West Indian Alvin Kallicharran, he shared a Warwickshire fourth wicket record stand of 470 against Lancashire at Southport. Humpage contributed 254 of those runs himself.

He also scored 205 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield after his side had been 23-3.

His fondest memory, however, was an incredible one wicket win against Yorkshire at Edgbaston, where he made an unbeaten 141, scoring all but 32 of the last 166 runs to assure his side an improbable win.

He scored 18,098 first class runs at 36.34 with 29 centuries and held 67 catches and made 72 stumpings, and in the one day game he scored 6,594 runs at 25.55 and held 249 catches and completed 32 stumpings. Humpage was a folk hero at Edgbaston.

But he went on the rebel tour of South Africa in 1981-82 after being ignored by the England selectors for the tour of India and this effectively ended his international career after just three One Day caps.

Humpage is well known around the circuit and everyone is welcome at the meeting which starts at 2.30pm.

l Derbyshire legend and former England Selector Geoff Miller OBE will be the guest speaker at Derbyshire County Cricket Club’s Players’ Luncheon on Wednesday, 5th March at the County Ground marquee, the event raising funds for their pre-season tour of Abu Dhabi.

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