Marais Erasmus is a South African umpire who is one of the most prominent faces in the current panel of international umpires. He was born on 27 February 1964 in Cape Province, South Africa. After having a brief career as a player, Erasmus started umpiring about 15 years ago. Over the years, he established himself as a dependable and eagle eyed administrator of a cricket match.
Early career
Erasmus played domestic cricket for Boland cricket team in the South African first class cricket. He was a promising allrounder but could never play internationally as his playing career dipped before South Africa became an ICC member in 1991. He played about 7 seasons with the now-defunct club before putting an end to his playing career. He made his umpiring debut in South African domestic cricket. His international debut as an umpire was in a T20 match contested between South Africa and Australia.
Umpiring career
Erasmus has an international experience spanning over 12 years. He officiated his first ODI on October 2007 contested between Kenya and Canada. He has to wait for further three years to officiate the longest format of the game. It was in a match between India and Bangladesh in 2010 at Chittagong. He was also inducted in the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires that year, a position that he has held on to ever since.
His stature in the cricketing world is exhibited through the long list of high profile important matches he has officiated. He has officiated in both 2011 and 2015 World Cups and officiating the 2017 Champions Trophy final between Pakistan and India is the highlight of his career.
Erasmus was honoured with ICC Umpire of the Year in 2017 adding yet another feather to his fine set of accomplishments. He had also won consecutive David Shepard Trophy for two consecutive years (2016 and 2017) for consistently commendable umpiring.
He is second in the list of foreign umpires to have officiated the most number of IPL matches. He has consistently been in the umpiring panel for the cricketing extravaganza since 2009.
Controversies
Marais Erasmus is a highly respected umpire with a relatively spotless record in the matches he has officiated. However, he came under the scrutiny after couple of ambiguous decisions against the home team England in a high pressure Ashes test in 2013.
He has had fair share of bad decisions in his career but his experience and reputation makes him one of the best among the current crop of umpires.
Stats
Erasmus has officiated in 49 Tests, 74 ODIs and 26 T20s.
