Top 5 Cricket officials to emerge from Sri Lanka

#5 K. T. Francis

Sri Lanka’s most respected umpires

Kandiah Thirugnansampandapillai Francis, also known as K. T. Francis is considered as the most iconic and respected umpire to have come out from Sri Lanka. Along with Herbie Felsinger, Francis officiated in Sri Lanka’s first-ever Test match against England at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in 1982. He also had the distinction of officiating Sri Lanka’s first one-day international.

Francis mostly stood as the umpire for matches which took place in Sri Lanka. He officiated 25 test matches and 56 One Day Internationals in a career which spanned over 15 years. He was known for his high level of integrity and his distinct and thorough knowledge on the rules and laws of cricket.

In a famous incident way back in 1993, K. T. Francis encountered a situation where the batsman refused to accept his verdict after being given run out. The rule was regarding breaking the stumps to run a batsman out after the stumps had already been uprooted without the ball in hand.

Francis got into a spat with a spectator over the incident and after proving himself right to the spectator, Francis demanded an apology. K. T Francis passed away 3 years ago after a long struggle with diabetes. Despite having a few flaws and making a few mistakes throughout his career, K. T. Francis will go down as one of the most respected umpire in the world.