Those watching Australia’s pre-Test nets at the Bellerive Oval on Thursday could have been forgiven for think Waqar Younis was giving the Australian batsmen a workout. It was in fact umpire Aleem Dar, a dead ringer for former Pakistan fast bowler, who was sending down a few fast ones at Michael Clarke and David Warner. You could call it an unequal battle, given the fact that Dar is third umpire for the Test, and he was treated with due deference – Warner even curbing his instincts to pull the couple of bouncers he received.

Dar, officially the world’s best umpire, is more than a Sunday bowler. He bowled legspin in a 12-year first-class career in Pakistan and has a full-fledged Astroturf nets on the roof of his house. But bowling in the Australia nets is possibly tempting fate, the rate at which Aussie bowlers are getting crocked - there could be a strong temptation to pull in a Waqar lookalike and hope for the best.

Ethan Peel, a 15-year old schoolboy from Oxfordshire, has entered the record books by becoming Britain’s youngest qualified umpire. Peel was studying for an intermediate certificate in umpiring at Oxford Brooks University, part of an initiative by the International Institute of Cricket Umpiring and Scoring (IICUS) to recruit youngsters. He had already completed modules on the laws of the game and field management, man management and duty of care. On Saturday, he completed the final phase of qualification when he independently umpired a friendly match between Tiddington and the London-based Nomads, in Oxfordshire.

"It's a good job that I've got parents who get me to games and a supportive coach who has really helped,” Peel said later. “I hope that what I've achieved will lead on to other young lads getting involved in umpiring. It would be nice to progress on to umpiring professional cricket but I'm taking it all one step at a time."

Once a male bastion, cricket today has made rapid strides in the women’s game, though one aspect of it still remains, perhaps not necessarily intended that way, an exclusive preserve of men – Umpiring. But that too is changing. On Thursday, Shah Praveen Kausar became the first woman from Pakistan to umpire in a competitive game in England. Kausar stood as a field umpire in the Saddleworth and District Cricket League game between Shaw and Friamere Second XI at Holebottom Clough.

Apart from the ease and authority she displayed in her role, her presence on the field also drew courtesy from the players, sparing her umpiring partner the verbal assault he was generally accustomed to hear. “The players were a bit surprised, but they were very courteous towards her and there was no bad language — not even directed at me which was unusual,” Peter Lilley, her co-umpire, told the Oldham Evening Chronicle.

“Shah did very well. She was very competent in everything she did and I think she enjoyed herself,” Lilley said. “She didn’t just stand at square leg, she did a full job.”

Kausar, 50, has umpired both men’s and women’s games in Pakistan. She is expected to umpire a full season in England next year.

	Ooh I'm going to have three slices of cake © Getty Images

An umpire’s life is tough: they stand for hours watching ball after ball, are subjected to withering stares by players when appeals are turned down or upheld, criticised for bad decisions but not praised for any good ones and now face the indignity of technology. But what seems to be the unkindest cut of all is the miserly duration of the tea break, a grouse first-class umpires in England plan to raise before the ECB. Umpires, they will point out, are the last to leave the ground at a session break and first to return at resumption of play so they don’t get enough time to put their feet up, sip that Earl Grey and munch on soggy cucumber sandwiches.

Jack Simmons, the chairman of ECB’s cricket committee, said extending the break by ten minutes would not be a problem. “The umpires have never asked for anything in the past to my knowledge and I am aware that they have less time off the field than the players,” Simmons told The Times. “Extending the intervals by five or ten minutes would not go amiss and it would also suit the county chief executives, as spectators would have more time to eat at their bars and restaurants and be less inclined to bring sandwiches.”