By Adrian Frater, Staff Reporter 
Bucknor
WESTERN BUREAU:
UMPIRE STEVE Bucknor, who recently became Test cricket's leading umpire when he did duties in the just concluded Test series between England and India, in England, will receive a hero's welcome when he returns home this Saturday night.
"A delegation comprising members of the city's (Montego Bay) sporting fraternity will be meeting Mr. Bucknor on his arrival at the Sangster International Airport," said Bryan Miller, the chairman of the Western Masters Football League, which has the Steve Bucknor Trophy as its main award. "We will be having a press conference to allow members of the media to have dialogue with Mr. Bucknor."
In addition to Saturday's grand welcome home, a special 'welcome home reception' is also planned for next Thursday afternoon at Sandals Montego Bay. Indications are that Sports Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, city leaders in Montego Bay and members of the local football and cricket fraternity will be in attendance.
"To be the leading cricket umpire in the world is not an easy achievement and we are extremely proud of Steve (Bucknor)," said Miller. "It is people like this honourable gentleman who we wish to project to our children as the ideal role model."
Bucknor, who started his umpiring career as a Grade C umpire in 1973, became the joint recorder holder with Englishman Harold 'Dicky' Bird when he made his 66th test appearance in the first Test match of the ill-fated Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand earlier this year.
Bucknor, who also holds the record for the leading umpire in World Cup cricket (the one-day version of the game), should have broken the record in the second Test of the Pakistan/New Zealand series. However, a bomb blast in Karachi, the venue for the game, resulted in the game being abandoned.
"I am a bit disappointed about not breaking the record in Pakistan because my friends there had a big reception planned for me," said Bucknor, when he hastily returned home from Pakistan. "Getting the record in England was fun as I also have a lot of friends there."
On his way to becoming the leading umpire in the world, the no-nonsense Bucknor, who is numbered among the eight 'élite' umpires in the world, first became the leading West Indian um-pire, beating the previous record of 43 Test matches, which was held by fellow Jamaican umpire Douglas Sang Hue.
On his way to his enviable achievements in the world of cricket, the Montego Bay-born Bucknor, who had the enviable distinction of representing Cornwall College and St. James in cricket, football and athletics, created a number of enviable firsts. When he officiated in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the versatile Bucknor, who was then a FIFA referee, became the first man to officiate in both World Cup cricket and World Cup football. Also that same year, he became the first black man to umpire in a Test match in South Africa, which had just dismantled its apartheid system. "I started out wanting to become the best umpire in the world and I am happy with the progress I have made," said Bucknor, prior to making his history-making trip to England. "I am still enjoying what I am doing so I think I will be around for quite a few more years."
