Not only has Rabiul Hoque been appointed on the ICC Associate and Affiliate Panel of International Umpires for 2016 but the 33-year-old took the top prize of being the Best Umpire for Abu Dhabi Cricket Council at the Shyam Bhatia Annual Awards.
He is overwhelmed by the two achievements, recognising a career that began in Bangladesh 15 years ago. After looking up to David Shepherd – one of the world’s best-known umpires, who stood in for 92 Tests, Hoque had his first taste of officiating in a local competition in Chittagong. But it was far from happy memories. Having judged two LBW decision go against them, the losing side refused to take the runner-up trophy.
“It was that experience that made up my mind to pursue umpiring further and despite being a young age, I persisted myself to sacrifice anything beyond my limit to becoming an umpire,” he said.
“I wanted to send out a message to those people, that I adjudged those decisions with pure honesty and that I wanted to prove them I can become a recognised umpire.”
Determined to achieve his goal, he was turned away from the Chittagong District Sports Association for being too young.
But after finally working as a scorer for 18 months, he was given his chance due to unavailability of umpires and stood in for Under-16 and U19 domestic games over four years. It was not until 2006 when he moved to the UAE that his umpiring career started to take off.
Working as a contract manager for a construction company, he continued to juggle his full-time work with his passion.
As well as umpiring in domestic games in Abu Dhabi, his CV also includes last year’s ACC Regional Twenty20 Qualifiers in Sharjah, the UAE-Ireland first T20 in Abu Dhabi in February, and the England-Oman 50-over practice game in November in Abu Dhabi.
His efforts did not go unnoticed with one particular international.
“Usually umpires rarely talk to cricketers but Moeen Ali said I should visit England to officiate some games and get more experience,” he said. “That was nice to hear because I think the English players are most well behaved as they are mentally prepared to accept umpiring decisions.
“For me, there is extra pressure and you cannot switch off and lose concentration.”
He added: “I’ve had a wonderful 15 years of umpiring but I’m still in my early stages of my career. I need to improve a lot but want to thank all the people who have supported me. It’s very challenging but I hope I can officiate in more international matches like the World Cup.”
