Anna Harris is flying the flag for women umpires everywhere (2024)

First time around, she was able to lean on existing relationships with the players to mitigate the effect of any nerves and aid communication - which many umpires will tell you is key to match management.

"I played with quite a few of the players at either county level or junior age group, so it's really nice to see them from a different perspective, where you're not competing with them," Harris says. "Not that they're more forgiving [of errors] but just having that relationship can sort of ease you into the game a bit more.

"Knowing that it's live-streamed is another big thing: 'Oh goodness, what do I look like, what am I signalling, I'm going to get everything done right.'"

Harris also speaks of support from the ECB in terms of the development aspect, and the first-class colleague at short leg as other factors in favour.

She was to officiate in the men's South Wales Premier League in 2020 but the competition was delayed. She remains on the umpiring panel for this year's edition, though fixtures are yet to be announced. She is also due to stand with another female umpire in the West of England Premier League in May; when she does, it will be the first time two women will have umpired a match together in that men's competition, it is believed.

As far as men's matches go, Harris now has an impressive bank of experience, having stood in the Thames Valley League for three years and completed a season in Melbourne.

"That was my first full League season, so it was kind of chucking myself in the deep end," she says of her Australian stint. "But they were brilliant. You have the odd game when you don't quite see eye to eye with the players but most of the time they're quite willing to work with you.

"News travels fast - if you had a good game, I'll turn up to the next game and they'll go, 'Oh we heard you had a good one.' It's [about] building relationships with those players, starting from scratch almost.

"With women, it might be a little bit more educational, guiding them through the game, whereas with the men, they full-on know when they're treading the line, so it's kind of reining them in. If you've got a little bit of cheek, a little bit of nous, a bit of a sense of humour, it will go a long way, because with the men, if you're trying to be too officious, especially myself as a young female umpire, it just doesn't quite sit with them."

While she has had the odd negative experience umpiring men's matches, Harris says that is rare. "[There's] the odd throwaway comment, or when someone says, 'Oh you've done well today', and you can sort of hear the follow-up in their head, 'for a female, or for a young person'," she says.

One of her "tricks", simple but effective, is to throw the ball to one of the players, often the bowler at the beginning of the match. When they see she has a good arm, a new level of respect emerges.

"Suddenly they're like, 'Oh, she can play', and you open up that dialogue," Harris says. "Then I can slip in that I've done a season in Australia, so, you know, you better step it up if you think you're going to trouble me! Little tricks, opening up conversation, and then once they've had that fun with you, it's generally fine."

The key message, whether it's umpiring men or women, though, is the same.