Top 10 Umpires who have officiated in most ODIs

Umpiring in cricket is a tough and thankless job at any level. Mental strength is of utmost importance in match officiating. Above all, though, it is the love and passion for the sport that drives an umpire to give his best in every game. Since 2002, the ICC has two panels of umpires: namely the Elite Panel of Umpires and the larger International Panel of Umpires. The following list of umpires who have officiated in most ODIs includes some famous names who have had a long and successful careers as decision makers on the field. 10. Steve Davis- 137: Steve Davis. (© Getty Images) The former Australian umpire, from South Australia, was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in April 2008. Davis officiated in 3 matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup which led to his promotion to the Elite panel. On 9 March 2011, he umpired his 100th ODI when standing in the World Cup group game between India and Netherlands in New Delhi. In May 2015, Davis announced his retirement following the conclusion of the ODI series between England and New Zealand. His last ODI was on 17th June making it his 137th ODI. Davis is remembered for calling several dead-balls when England’s Steve Finn disturbed the stumps owing to his habit of bowling extremely close to the stumps. The rule has now been changed and such an incident calls for penalizing the bowler with a no-ball. 9. Darrell Hair- 139: Darrel Hair. (© Getty Images) The Australian stood on the International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before being appointed to the ICC Elite umpire panel. He remains a controversial figure in cricket being involved in incidents like no-balling Muttiah Muralitharan, ruling that the Pakistani team had been involved in ball tampering against England at the Oval and writing an email to ICC about his resignation and demanding a payment of US$500,000 to cover loss of future earnings after he was not allowed to officiate at the highest level. A leaked ICC report, though, showed that before the Oval incident, Hair was ranked the second-best umpire overall and number one in decision-making. On 22 August 2008, Hair handed in his resignation to the ICC in order to take up a coaching role. He had been an international umpire for 16 years. 8. Russell Tiffin- 146: (Photo Source: AFP) Russell Tiffin of Zimbabwe is currently on the International panel of ICC umpires and is a former Test cricket umpire. He has been a member of the panel since 1995. He became a member of the ICC Elite Panel in April 2001. In February 2004 along with Asoka de Silva and Dave Orchard, he did not renew his contract.He officiated in 38 Test matches, the most for any Zimbabwean umpire. He continues to be a regular umpire in ODIs. He has officiated in 146 ODIs, making him one of the most capped umpires in world cricket. In December 2007, he stood in his 39th Test match, after a 3-year layoff from umpiring in Tests. 7. David Shepherd- 172: David Shepherd. (© Getty Images) The late David Shepherd, the legendary English umpire was a popular figure in world cricket. He umpired in 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals in 1996, 1999 and 2003. Quickly recognised as being one of the fairest-minded and most able officials in the game, within two years he was part of the umpiring panel for the 1983 World Cup, and within four he was standing in his first Test. He was a very jolly character, with a red face and white hair under a white flat cap, universally liked on and off the field. Perhaps his most famous quirk was his habit of lifting one foot off the ground whenever the score reached 111, or multiples thereof, they being regarded as unlucky by Shepherd in a ritual dating back to his childhood cricket team days. In the 2003 World Cup game between Australia and Pakistan, he ordered Waqar Younis, the Pakistani skipper to stop bowling after the fast bowler had bowled beamers. He became the first umpire to have taken such an action during an international match. 6. Simon Taufel- 174: Simon Taufel. (© Getty Images) Simon Taufel won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008, and was generally considered to be the best umpire in the world during this time. On 26 September 2012 he announced his retirement from international cricket after the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final and is now the Umpire Performance and Training Manager. Taufel stood in his first (ODI) on 13 January 1999 in the match between Australia and Sri Lanka at Sydney when he was 27 years old. He became a member of the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires in 2002. He won the ICC Umpire of the Year for the first five years of its existence. 5. Daryl Harper- 174: Daryl Harper. (© Getty Images) The Australian was a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires from 2002 until 2011 when the ICC announced that Harper was being stood down at the termination of his contract in July 2011. In June 2011, following criticism from India during the India-West Indies Test series Harper retired from umpiring. He was the third umpire for a trial of the ‘player referral’ system in 2009. In 2010, England lodged a formal complaint against Harper after a referred caught behind decision was turned down because the volume supplied by the home broadcaster was not good enough to detect the edge. The ICC dropped Harper from the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 due to general performance reasons and demoted him from the Elite Panel in May 2011.Harper retired from umpiring following some heavy criticism from India during the first Test against the West Indies in an away series. 4. Aleem Dar- 178: Aleem Dar. (© Getty Images) Dar is a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won three consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011, after being nominated twice in 2005 and 2006. In April 2004, he became the first Pakistani to be part of the Elite panel. On 17 October 2007 Dar umpired in his 100th ODI (between India and Australia at Mumbai), making him the tenth umpire in the history of cricket to reach that landmark. He reached the landmark in a record time, taking just seven years, and became the first Pakistani to officiate in a century of ODIs. 3. Steve Bucknor- 181: Steve Bucknor. (© Getty Images) The West Indian Steve Bucknor umpired in a record 128 Test matches between 1989 and 2009, and also umpired in 181 ODIs during this period, including five consecutive Cricket World Cup finals from 1992 to 2007. He was widely known for his long deliberations before making decisions. Before becoming an umpire, he was a football player and referee, a high school mathematics teacher and a sports coach. In October 2007, he was awarded the Order of Jamaica, Commander Class, for ‘outstanding services in the field of sports’. Bucknor’s first international cricket fixture was an ODI between the West Indies and India at Antigua on 18 March 1989. The ICC confirmed on 23 February 2009 that Bucknor had decided to retire from umpiring in March 2009. His last ODI was the 4th match between his native West Indies and England at Barbados on 29 March, bringing his 20-year career as an official to an end. 2. Billy Bowden- 195: Billy Bowden. (© Getty Images) New Zealand’s Billy Bowden was a player until he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and took up umpiring. He is well known for his dramatic signalling style which includes ‘crooked finger of doom’ out signal. In March 1995, he officiated in his first ODI between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hamilton. In 2002, he was included in the Emirates Panel of International Umpires. A year later he was asked to umpire at the Cricket World Cup in South Africa and was chosen to be the fourth umpire in the final between Australia and India. He was soon promoted to the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, of which he was a member till 2013. Suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, it was too painful for Bowden to signal a batsman out in the conventional fashion. There was a suggestion that he needs to do the signals in the way he does because of his arthritis, as he needs to keep his body fluid. 1. Rudi Koertzen- 209: Rudi Koertzen. (© Getty Images) The South African Rudi Koertzen was a cricket enthusiast since his youth, he played league cricket while working as a clerk for South African Railways. He became an umpire in 1981. Koertzen officiated in his first ODI on 9 December 1992, and in his first Test match from 26-29 December 1992. Both matches were contested between South Africa and India at Port Elizabeth, during the first series in which television replays were used to assist with run-out decisions. Koertzen soon became well-known for very slowly raising his index finger to indicate that a batsman was out. This was termed ‘slow death’. He became a full-time ICC umpire in 1997 and was one of the original members of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires when it was founded in 2002. He went on to officiate in a record 209 ODIs becoming the second umpire after David Shepherd to stand in 150 ODIs On 4 June 2010, Koertzen announced his decision to retire from umpiring.He stood in his final ODI on 9 June 2010, between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka at Harare, and in his final Test from 21-24 July 2010, between Pakistan and Australia at Leeds. (Also read: Top 10 Highest partnerships in Tests in 2015)

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Top 10 Umpires who have officiated in most ODIs

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