Luther Wilkin yesterday described it as the worst situation he had seen in his many years with Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association.

Ongoing problems were further highlighted over the weekend when three of eight Knockout Cup first round matches were called off because umpires failed to show.

Eight matches were also scheduled for Sunday, placing a heavy demand on the umpires. And while Wilkin expects things to get better this weekend, the problem is a long way from being solved.

"This is about the worst,'' replied Wilkin when asked to compare the shortage with that of previous years.

"Our membership is depleted. We don't seem to be able to get any new fellas in. You are playing on Saturdays and Sundays and a lot of these guys are married and the wife wants them at home.

"Like we said to the board before, why not on Sundays have just the Premier Division and the First Division on Saturdays.'' Wilkin is no longer active as an umpire but still gives his services to the BCUA as Honorary Secretary-Treasurer and training officer along with George Trott. Of 24 members on the BCUA books, several are inactive, leaving the association to struggle to field a full complement of officials for the eight matches on any given Sunday.

"I'm working hard to get fellas out,'' said Wilkin. Some of those members not available for various reasons are Jack Thompson, Eustace Marsh and Frank DeSilva, leaving the association to concentrate on new recruits.

Players like Andre Manders, Darren Burchall and Braxton Stowe and past players Stephen Douglas and Maxwell Curtis have offered their services whenever they can.

"What I tell them is all I need is one or two nights of your time and I can get you up to a good standard which would help you,'' said Wilkin.

"You have fellas like Leroy Wilson who has just come in and is doing remarkably well. Every Saturday and Sunday, if he can make it, he is out there.

"Stephen's been a regular and he's having fun. Now you can't stop him. Those are the ones we want to attract.'' Wilkin said numbers were depleting for several reasons -- long hours (Open games start at 11 a.m. and sometimes finish after 7 p.m.), relatively low pay, abuse from players and fans and generally not being available on a regular basis because of work or family commitments.

"Last weekend was Bermuda Day and some fellas who would have been off had to work on the Saturday in order to get the Monday off,'' explained Wilkin.

"For the Knockout games, 16 umpires were needed and right behind that we needed another 16 for Sunday.

"You cannot play a game without the umpires. They don't have to be out there every week. We're saying, `just come out and help us out'.

"We need the people and cricket in Bermuda needs them.''