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The man widely acknowledged as the Caribbean's best umpire has given a huge vote of confidence to three of his West Indian colleagues.

Steve Bucknor, one of international cricket's most capped umpires, believes Eddie Nicholls, Billy Doctrove and Basil Morgan can compare favourably with any of the officials on the International Cricket Council's (ICC) National Grid panel.

I think our top umpires are as good as any anywhere, Bucknor said ahead of the seventh One-Day International between West Indies and South Africa at the Arnos Vale Playing Field yesterday.

I've seen umpiring around the world and it is my opinion that they are as good as any in the world.

As an experienced umpire who has stood in three successive World Cup finals, 56 Tests and 90 One-Day Internationals in each of the ten Test-playing nations, Bucknor has had the benefit of officiating with several other umpires.

When the ICC moves to introduce an elite panel of about a dozen umpires which will serve in all Test matches, the 54-year-old Jamaican is certain to be among that group.

And he feels Nicholls, the second of the West Indies representatives on the ICC panel, should also be in the line-up.

Once the system is implemented, the current policy in which an umpire from the host country is automatically appointed will be eliminated.

In my opinion, Nicholls is within the top ten quite easily, Bucknor said of the Guyanese police assistant superintendent who has stood in 15 Tests and 26 One-Day Internationals.

With this new system coming maybe next year, it is possible that he could get into the new panel that is going to be made up of about ten, 12 umpires who will do all of Test cricket.

Dominican Doctrove and Morgan, of Montserrat, are not members of the National Grid panel which is made up of 20 umpires four from England and two from each of the other Test-playing countries with the exception of Bangladesh.

I have seen Test umpires who are not half as good as Doctrove and Morgan, Bucknor said.

They are better than some I have seen on the circuit but because the system says two from each country, the best umpires are not necessarily within the top 20. I hope there is a place for them sometime soon.

Outside of the main group of the dozen top umpires, there is expected to be a secondary panel of about 25 umpires.

On this panel, I think budding umpires should come through, said Bucknor.

© The Barbados Nation