Melbourne, May 17 (IANS): Simon Taufel said that he has created an online accreditation course to fill the gaps in umpires' training and it will give a more practical approach to umpiring rather than the traditional "dry approach".

Regarded as one of the most respected umpires, Taufel has written the entire course material and has created the programme in association with the Dubai-based ICC Cricket Academy.

"What we're launching at the ICC Academy is an umpire's accreditation programme where we can benchmark some core competencies that we are looking for in cricket umpires at different levels," Taufel was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"The traditional approach in introducing umpires to cricket has simply been to teach them the Laws of Cricket. That has limited value, and it is a very dry approach to inducting new people to umpiring. What I would like to stress is, that we've really focused on more video content. And trying to make it easier for people to watch and listen, rather than just reading lots of text," he added.

Taufel said it was an opportunity for the ICC as well as member boards to "encourage" umpiring by backing the online course.

The Level 2 course is still being developed but, Taufel said, "would be our national panel level or pathway representative cricket umpires and so, we want to get into more technique, put some more meat on the bones."