during a recent Red Stripe trial match in Jamaica that the Jamaica Cricket Umpires Association extended an invitation for him to do a second game in the trial series.

However Francis, who was one of the Cup Match umpires this year, was forced to turn down the request with regret because of work commitments that required him to return to Bermuda.

Francis became the first local umpire to officiate in a multiple-day game in the West Indies since the late George Garrod was appointed to umpire a Shell Shield (now Red Stripe) game in Jamaica in the early 1970s.

Jamaica-born Francis joined several other locals when he passed the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association's final examination in 1989.

Francis, who has only just returned from Jamaica, did two matches in the Kingston area. In addition to the Red Stripe trial which was played in St.

Catherine, he also officiated in a one-day limited overs game.

"It was a great experience for me, my only hope is that further invitations will be extended to members of our local association in the future,'' said Francis.

"It is important that the people in the West Indies are able to see us perform. By doing so it will help to eventually pave the way for Bermuda umpires to become more recognised.'' But Francis expressed his regret in not being able to accommodate the JCUA by accepting their invitation to do a second Red Stripe trial game -- the invitation coming after he and Lindell Bell of Jamaica did a commendable job during the first trial match.

"It was an honour to have been asked by the JCUA secretary Johnny Gayle to do another game, but I just couldn't fit it into the schedule and he understood it. There is no doubt that invitations like the recent one from Jamaica is a good opportunity for the Bermuda umpires as assignments like these can only be a good stepping ground to even greater things,'' said Francis.

One of the things which Francis was most impressed with during the Kingston matches was the manner in which the ground staff handled their job. He said in addition to communicating well with the umpires, the ground staff were quite knowledgeable about the weather conditions that prevailed.

"The third day's play after lunch during the trials was rained out but during the first two days when rain threatened they were alert to advise whether the clouds would end up directly over the ground. They certainly knew what was happening and were always prepared to bring out the covers well in advance,'' he recalled.

Meanwhile the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association's efforts to raise funds to hold the West Indies Cricket Umpires Convention here in May, have hit a stumbling block.

Up to $9,000 is owed to the Association for games in which umpires officiated last season and the delinquent clubs are making no effort to settle their accounts.

"We have written to the clubs who owe us money but the response is just to slow. In fact in many cases its the same old clubs who lag behind and it's disturbing,'' said Randy Butler, president of the BCUA.

Butler would not be drawn into naming which clubs owed the most or even the number of clubs who were on this delinquent list.

The hope is that a small percentage of the outstanding money would go toward next year's conference while the bulk would obviously go toward the umpires who have earned their pay of $48 for attending to the many domestic games during the 1992 season.

"We had only 18 active members this year which is very low compared to previous years, and the fact that many of these umpires haven't been paid for their services could deter them from continuing on,'' said Butler.

"These umpires did a service and expect to be paid. When it comes to paying there are just too many clubs who are very ignorant and this is something that has to be corrected.''