Nkosi KZNCU’s leading man in the middle
He had been umpiring every Saturday at school and, after joining the KZN Cricket Umpires' Association, he became involved in club cricket.
PIUS Nkosi capped off another memorable year for him in his rapidly developing umpiring career by claiming the 2015/16 Umpire of the Season Award at the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union awards evening recently, adding to his list of achievements as he aims to reach umpiring’s upper echelons.
The Westville Boys’ High School teacher’s name was etched onto the trophy for the second year running after his efforts on the local club and school cricket scenes as well as at various national weeks.
“I’m honoured to have won the award for the second year in a row,” said Nkosi. “I wasn’t thinking about the award at all during the season, instead I was focused on giving my best every time I was on the field, but it is nice to have been recognised for my efforts,” he adds.
Nkosi, who started umpiring as part of his extra-curricular responsibilities as a school teacher, gave up his enjoyment of playing the game in order pursue a potential career as ‘the man in the middle’.
“I played cricket but didn’t have much to offer as a player and so I thought, why not get involved in umpiring and give back to the game that gave me so much?” he said.
He had been umpiring every Saturday at school and, after joining the KZN Cricket Umpires’ Association, he became involved in club cricket.
Having done his time at the various age group inter-provincial weeks around the country in recent years, Nkosi’s big break came at the back end of the recent 2015/16 season when he stood at the Coca-Cola Schools T20 National Finals in Potchefstroom in March before making his début at the recent Momentum National Club Championships in Pretoria at the end of April.
The evening also recognised Nkosi’s fellow teacher and umpiring colleague, Barry Oosthuyzen, who received the Most Improved Umpire of the Season Award, while national panel member, Babalo ‘Babs’ Gcuma, continues to fly the province’s flag high on the domestic circuit after becoming the first ever black umpire from KZN to make it onto Cricket South Africa’s National First-Class Panel of Umpires in August 2014.
