( l - r ) Neish, Smith

Umpires seldom get exposure, except for decisions that may turn a match or infuriate on/off field conflict.

More often than not, milestones they achieve especially at the local level, past unnoticed almost as the flicker they keep in their hands to signal another ball has been bowled.

In much the same vein it elicited little cheer when Leroy Neish and Verdayne Smith walked out to officiate in the third SDC National 20/20 final at Alpart on Sunday.

It went virtually unnoticed that their presence in the middle meant it was the first time that two Manchester-based umpires were doing duties in a major national cricket final.

"Times have really changed," was how the Manchester Cricket Association president, Patrick Anderson, prefaced his comments on this recognition.

"I mean in days gone and not very long too, you would have at least one umpire from Kingston or if Bucknor was around, you probably have him going along with one of our guys or the person you figure is the best from say the Middlesex region. Today (Sunday) you have a situation where, quite rightly, the two guys chosen are both in the tops in this country at any level and certainly the best we have here (Middlesex)."

Top rating

Neish, at 56, has been doing umpiring since he turned 40. Smith, at 31, began umpiring in 2000, but took it up seriously, after he quit playing parish cricket for Clarendon while in sixth form at Glenmuir, and his eventual completion of studies at GC Foster College.

Both have secured the A-1 rating, the highest such level for local umpires, with Smith poised to go even higher after having completed the written, oral and practical examinations by the regional cricket authority.

Neish is a constant feature in major competitions, from school-boy, Senior Cup and now the professional league. He narrowly missed out on an opportunity to feature in an international game when he was, according to him, "mysteriously scratched" from the list of game officials called by the board to officiate when Australia played Jamaica in 2008.

However, even at the top of his game, he recognises, time is not on his hands.

"I don't think based on my age, especially with the new regulations they are putting in at every level, I will move beyond this but getting into umpiring was the best decision I made. I wish I could have entered earlier."

A former army man, he grew up in Epsom, St Mary and played cricket at the Youth club level both in Clarendon (Halse Hall) and St Andrew, but has lived in Manchester since 1982.

A resident of Greenvale, one of the strong areas for sports in Manchester, he believes, Smith has the attitude and quality to go to the very highest level - the International Cricket Council (ICC) Elite panel.

"Watch him," he says of Smith, who formerly played in the Headley Cup rural senior cricket competition, for deCarteret and Glenmuir High Schools.

"He is the man now; he is going to go far... even to the highest level."Already, that process has began for Smith, who had his first taste of the regional level, doing duties in the recent Under 19 tournaments hosted in Jamaica.

"I made sure I stared early so I could have the best shot of making it through to the highest level," he said.

His regular job is that of a teacher and coach at Old Harbour Primary in St Catherine. That school topped the all-island Primary school competition in cricket in 2005 and Mikel Francis, who played on that winning side, has since represented Jamaica as a fastbowler on the Under 17 team.

It's umpiring though, which has Smith's focus now.