The umpires strike back

Malcolm Ashton, John Holder, Mayor Peter Rush, Rotary President Neil Helliwell and Neil Mallender

Rochdale Rotary Club continued its Annual fund-raising efforts on a cricket theme by having a Charity Sportsman's dinner at the Masonic Hall, Richard Street on the 20 March.

Rochdale Rotarian John Holder, former fast bowler and Test match umpire (nicknamed Benson), shared the stage with fellow umpire Neil Mallender (nicknamed Ghost); a Yorkshireman and former test and county bowler.

MC was the radio's Test Match Special's statistician Malcolm Ashton and he introduced Rochdale's Mayor Peter Rush who was guest of honour.

Over 100 Rotarians, friends and cricket lovers enjoyed an evening where the umpires answered questions ranging from what unusual things did bowlers hand to the umpire during an over (often hot sweaty caps) to their view of new computer technology such as 'Hawkeye' and 'hot spot' to confirm the umpire's decision .

There were insights into some of the characters of cricket, Shane Warne (fantastic spinner who could push the rules of cricket to their limit), Kevin Pieterson (brilliant batsman but not easily integrated into a team) and Derek Randall (full of mischief and made cricket fun to watch).

The obvious enjoyment both umpires had experienced both playing and umpiring cricket was evident on the night.

With the help of a raffle, stand up bingo and auction, over £1,600 was raised to go to amateur youth player cricket coaching in Rochdale, bringing the total raised over the past three years to over £6,000.

Rotary President Neil Helliwell thanked everyone for helping the club to further cricket coaching in Rochdale.