In standing in the middle for the Melbourne Stars versus Brisbane Heat clash at the MCG, Wilds became just the 11^th umpire to stand in 50 Australian domestic Twenty20 matches.

He was presented with a certificate by match referee Steve Davis to mark the achievement. It was one Wilds was pleased to have reached, but for him it is more about being involved with the game he loves.

"You don't really do it for milestones, I think this is my fifth year on the panel [Cricket Australia National Umpire Panel], so it just happens," Wilds said.

"Those 50 are actually 50 on-field games, I was actually in the box at Marvel on Monday night, so I've done about 20 in the box as well. They don't count them."

Wilds' 50th came up at the beginning of a stretch of four games in four days - he did the Stars-Heat clash, was in the box for the Brisbane Heat-Perth Scorchers match on Monday, on Tuesday it was back to Marvel for the Hobart Hurricanes versus Melbourne Renegades fixture then Wednesday he was appointed to the Regenades-Sydney Thunder game.

While that sort of workload is not the norm, nor is being based in a 'bubble' in Melbourne as part of COVID-19 safety protocols, Wilds takes it in his stride.

"We never did that sort of stretch, you'd do a game and fly to another destination and you might even get home for a couple of days here or there," he said.

"BBL started off where we travelled because I've had an array of games. I started with 13 I think and I've been to Hobart, Launceston, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Coffs Harbour, Sydney, Melbourne and now the back end of it down here in Melbourne.

"There were lots of protocols, but as it [COVID] spread amongst teams, for the back end of it we're in Melbourne and so are all the teams.

"I haven't been home since I left on Boxing Day. We've had one umpire get COVID so he was out of it ... there's been guys off doing Tests as fourthies and there's the women's Ashes starting on Thursday in Adelaide and a couple of our guys are over there."

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Wilds' path into umpiring began a year after he retired from playing when the Bathurst District Cricket Association asked him to appoint officials to weekly games.

That led him to standing in Bathurst games and from there he ventured to Sydney with the hope of getting a first grade appointment. He's since had 170 including a number of top grade grand finals.

He made his first-class debut in February 2015 in a Sheffield Shield fixture between New South Wales and Western Australia in Newcastle and prior to the 2017-18 season, the Bathurst official was elevated to the Cricket Australia National Umpire Panel.

Wilds has gone on to stand in seven Women's One Day Internationals and nine Women's T20 Internationals. He's done 20 WBBL matches on top of that.

His Big Bash League on-field debut came at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2017 when the Sydney Sixers played the Melbourne Renegades in front of over 30,000 fans.

"I had no idea it would take me this far, not at all. I was challenged by Darren Goodger basically to go down to Sydney," Wilds said.

"So I went to Sydney with hopefully the intention of getting a game in first grade at some stage, so there was no ambition to reach a certain level, not at all."

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While Wilds has stood in the middle while some remarkable displays of bowling and big hitting plus thrilling finishes have unfolded, his attention is on his job rather that what some of world cricket's elite talents are doing.

"Absolutely I'm just focussing on on lbs [leg before wickets] or whatever. You're obviously aware if someone is batting exceptionally, but half the time you don't know the score in particular," he said.

"You do know as far as who's going to win, or well placed for a win, you're aware of that, but no, we don't take much notice of what's happening with that. A deep, satisfying game for us is one where there's no errors and everything went right.

"It's nice to be ignored, it's better not to be seen. I'm very happy if I go through it and there's no highlighting of me."

As for whether or not he hopes to take his umpiring career to the next level, Wilds was very clear on his goals.

"No, no, no, I'm definitely thoroughly enjoying where I am. It's been a great thing to be involved in, but definitely not," he laughed.

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