Legendary cricket umpire Steve Bucknor now officiates club games in the Bronx

Sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time.

I had that good fortune earlier this month. Ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States, I visited Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to speak to club cricketers about the tournament, with games taking place on Long Island.

Van Cortlandt Park is where most of New York’s recreational cricket games take place each weekend. Eight World Cup fixtures were initially going to be held there, but they were moved to Nassau County on Long Island after opposition from residents. Many club cricketers were also concerned about the tournament taking over their park for a summer.

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I expected to get a broad range of opinions from those playing in the World Series League clash between New York Kookaburras CC and Connecticut Panthers CC. What I didn’t expect was for former international umpire Steve Bucknor to be officiating the match.

Bucknor is one of cricket’s most famous umpires. During a 20-year international career, the Jamaican umpired five World Cup finals and 128 Tests. Upon his retirement in 2009, no one had overseen more of the latter. Aleem Dar (145 Tests) broke the record in 2019.

Bucknor started standing in the Bronx after moving to the New York area seven years ago for family reasons. “Between April and October, I umpire on the weekends here,” the cricket legend explained to Mirror Sport in Van Cortlandt Park.

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The 77-year-old had stopped umpiring after leaving the international game but was asked to help out in the Bronx after moving to the States. And it’s fair to say the standard of cricket in New York isn’t quite the same as England and Australia in the Ashes.

That was clear at the end of the Kookaburras’ innings. Their No.11 – sporting aviators and hair sticking out the back of his baggy green – came steaming down the track, only to realise a quick single wasn’t on. He turned and slipped in the middle of the pitch before some poor fielding gave him a reprieve.

Bucknor, wearing an International Cricket Council jumper, could do nothing but watch the glorious chaos unfold. It was club cricket at its absolute finest.

Although Bucknor is no longer umpiring at the highest level, he treasures his work in the Bronx. “I enjoy this because for me this is therapy. It’s work, but it’s exercise as well.”

He also believes the cricket scene in New York is becoming bigger and better. “Yes it is growing because normally, maybe on a Sunday, we have eight games being played on the park. And it’s always refreshing to see more persons turning up to play cricket.”

And Bucknor is pleased the World Cup was moved to Long Island, allowing recreational cricket to continue in Van Cortlandt Park. “(It’s) better in Long Island. For the simple reason – playing here on this park, you would have disturbed many competitions. Many hundreds of persons would have not played cricket. And how do you not have a competition on this ground for a whole season?”

Bucknor isn’t planning on attending any of the tournament games but has pledged to enjoy it on television. He also accepts there’s a “World Cup fever” in town, with interest growing in the States. “It (the excitement) is generally in the Caribbean plus the US.”

Although no world-class cricketers will grace Van Cortlandt Park this summer, one world-class umpire will be there. As one Kookaburras player told me: “Bucks in the Bronx – there’s your headline.”