The Austrian Union of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (AUCUS), which was founded in 2001 to help improve the standard of umpiring in Austria as well as organising umpiring seminars and courses for ACA member clubs, has unveiled its plans for umpiring developments within Austria. Prior to the 2003 season, AUCUS is to hold a weekend seminar in Vienna, with will lead to those in attendance gaining the ECC Basic Umpiring Certificate. This weekend course is planned for late January/early February with the course being run in conjunction with the EDP Umpiring Programme.

In April there will be a further umpiring and scoring seminar, with candidates taking the ACU&S Level 1 examination, which will allow successful candidates to be eligible for selection for ECC tournaments. At the end of the 2003 season it is then hoped that some umpires will go on to take the Level 2 exam, which should equip umpires fully for umpiring.

Umpiring in Austria has developed a long way since the early days of cricket in Austria, with seminars originally conducted by the Powley brothers in the late 1980s. There are regular umpiring seminars organised by AUCUS in conjunction with the ACA, with native Austrian officials having stood at the ECC Representative Festival in 2000, the ECC Indoor Championships (2001), the ECC Trophy (2001) and ECC Youth tournaments.

All four of AUCUS' committee members stood in the ECC Trophy in 2001 (held in Austria) and when the tournament is held in Austria again in August 2003, AUCUS officials will once again form part of the umpires group.

© Austrian Cricket Association / AUCUS