Umpiring a cricket match is one of the most challenging and tedious jobs in the industry. Despite being as involved in the game as all the players and coaching staff, the officials do not get the credit they deserve.
We have seen a host of great umpires like Dickie Bird, David Shepherd, and Simon Taufel take the field over the years and officiate the game with such ease.
In this article, we look at the people behind the scenes who should be credited for their hard work and significant contribution to this beautiful game. Here are the top 5 umpires currently in the world of cricket.
#5 Kumar Dharmasena
He had a horrific series as the umpire during the England-Bangladesh Test series and having 13 out of his 27 decisions overturned. Despite that, Dharmasena has proved to be one of the best umpires over the past few years and arguably the best umpire to come out of Sri Lanka.
He has been a part of the ICC Elite Umpire Panel for many years now, and due to his skillful umpiring, he was named as the ICC Umpire of the Year in 2012. He umpired the final of the recently concluded ICC World Cup which took place in Australia last year. He will always be remembered for the famous decision he made in the recently concluded ICC T-20 World Cup final between West Indies and England.
He started off his career as a player for the Sri Lankan cricket team and featured in 31 Tests and 141 ODIs as a reliable all-rounder. He was a part of the Sri Lankan squad which won the World Cup in 1996 which was held in the sub-continent.
#4 Marais Erasmus
The former South African first-class cricketer is currently one of the world’s best umpires. He is a member of the ICC Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and officiates in all three formats of the game – Tests, ODIs, and T20 Internationals.
He made his international umpiring debut in a T20 international between South Africa and Australia way back in 2006. He made his ODI debut as an umpire in 2008 and his Test debut in 2010 in the Test between India and Bangladesh which was held at Chittagong.
He has umpired as 36 test matches, 66 ODIs, and 26 T20s over the past ten years. His decision in the Indian Premier League match between the Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad to dismiss Quinton De-Kock came under scrutiny and was criticised by people around the world.
#3 Rod Tucker
Rodney James Tucker or Rod Tucker is one of the most successful umpires to have come out of Australia. He seems to be following in the footsteps of the likes of Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper who were immensely successful during their stints as umpires.
The former first-class cricketer played for Tasmania for 12 years from 1987 to 1999 and enjoyed reasonable success as an all-rounder with a batting average of 36 and bowling average of 41.
Just like Erasmus, he made his umpiring debut in a T20 International, after which he moved on to umpiring in One-Day Internationals and Tests as well. He has umpired in a total of 147 matches across all formats. He umpired the semi-final match between South Africa and New Zealand at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and the final of the 2016 World T20 between West Indies and England.
#2 Aleem Dar
Umpire Aleem Dar is by far the best official to have come out of Pakistan. In a career which has spanned over 13 years, he continues to be one of the most sought-after umpires.
He started out his career as a first-class cricketer for the Allied Bank, Gujranwala Cricket Association, Lahore and Pakistan Railways, but soon moved to umpiring due to his inconsistent performances at the first-class level.
He made his umpiring debut at the young age of 31 in an ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2000 and has not looked back since then. He has been asked to officiate in many important games and has proved his worth as one of the best umpires in the world.
In 2004, he became the first umpire from Pakistan to become a part of the ICC Elite Panel and had won numerous accolades throughout his career. He is the only umpire to have won the ICC Umpire of the year consecutively from 2009-2011. His accuracy in the 2011 World Cup was unmatched as all the 15 decisions which were reviewed by him went unreversed.
He was involved in a controversy in 2007 along with Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen when Australia were incorrectly made to bowl three extra overs in near darkness. Due to that decision, he was suspended from the 2007 World T20. Most recently, he was involved in the controversial no ball decision in the India-Bangladesh match in the ICC World T20 which was held in Bangladesh this year.
#1 Richard Kettleborough
Arguably the best umpire as of today, Richard Kettleborough has won the ICC Umpire of the Year for the last three years, and by doing so became the only the second umpire to do so, since Aleem Dar.
He began his umpiring career as he officiated in a T20 game between England and Australia in 2009 and was elevated to the International Panel of Umpires later that year. At the age of 38, he was promoted to the ICC Elite Panel in 2011 and was thus the youngest umpire in the panel then.
He was the umpire during the final of the 2015 World Cup between hosts Australia and co-hosts New Zealand which Australia won by wickets.
He is a former first-class cricketer who appeared in 33 first-class matches for Yorkshire and Middlesex. He was a left-handed top order batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler.
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