All-female match official group announced for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023
The eighth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup will have 13 female officials, surpassing the previous highest tally, reached at the ongoing ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, where nine of 15 match officials are women.
We take a look at the full list of those 13 match officials, some of whom are well-established names in the field:
The 24-year-old umpire from England is also a medical student. This will be her World Cup debut as a match official, but the umpire isn’t short of experience. She made her top-flight umpiring debut in 2020, and has since featured in internationals as well as fixtures in the Hundred.
She is the youngest match official at the event.
Australia’s Claire Polosak has plenty of experience to her name. Having debuted in a men’s club game in 2008/09, she has stood in both men’s and women’s international matches. She has already featured in a number of ICC tournaments in the past, having first officiated in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2016.
The experienced umpire has quite a few “firsts” to her name. In 2017, she became the first female umpire to stand in a men’s domestic fixture in Australia. Two years later, she was the first female umpire to stand in a men’s ODI. During India’s tour of Australia in 2020/21, she stood as the fourth umpire in the third and fourth Tests. Thereby, she became the first female match official to be involved in a men’s Test match.
Together with her compatriot Polosak, Eloise Sheridan became the first female umpiring pair to officiate together in a competitive game on Australian soil. This was during the WBBL in the 2018/19 season.
She has umpired in both men’s and women’s cricket, having made her men’s List A debut as an umpire in a Marsh Cup encounter this season. In women’s cricket, she has umpired at all levels internationally.
India’s G.S. Lakshmi had an 18-year-long career as a domestic cricketer before turning to umpiring. Her second innings as a match official began in 2008/09. She went on to umpire in all formats of women’s cricket, before becoming the first woman to be appointed to the International Panel of ICC Match Referees. Since then, she has officiated in men’s ODIs and T20Is as well.
Of late, she has featured in ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2022, Commonwealth Games 2022 and the current season of the BCCI’s men’s first-class tournament, Ranji Trophy.
Jacqueline Williams from Jamaica has been a prominent umpire at the domestic and international level. She was one of the four women umpires to feature in the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier 2015.
She was also the first female umpire in a men’s domestic List A contest in the West Indies. In 2019, she made her debut as an umpire in men’s ODIs and T20Is. She was the first woman to be a third umpire in a men’s international.
An inductee into the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires in 2020, N Janani will be at her first World Cup. She has the international experience of standing in women’s ODIs and T20Is.
She has also umpired in domestic T20 leagues in India. In January 2023, she stood in a Ranji Trophy encounter as the on-field umpire.
Kim Cotton was one of the four female umpires at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2018. A lawyer by profession, Cotton has stood in both men’s and women’s international and domestic games.
She has also been a part of several ICC tournaments since her debut including the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, where she also stood in the final.
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Lauren Agenbag was the first South African women’s umpire to stand in a women’s T20I in 2019. She did so at the age of merely 22, and has taken further strides since then.
Named as a part of the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires in May 2019, she has appeared in a number of ICC events. In October 2019, she became the first female umpire to officiate a first-class game in South Africa.
She was Cotton’s partner during last year’s World Cup final. By doing so, she became the youngest umpire, male or female, to stand in an ICC World Cup final.
In December 2022, she stood for the first time in a men’s T20I.
Meet Lauren Agenbag – the youngest umpire to have officiated in a CWC Final
Michell Pereira is a former cricketer, having been a part of the Colombo Colts during her playing career. She also made it to the Sri Lanka squad for the World Cup in 2005 as the reserve wicket-keeper.
In 2018, Sri Lanka Cricket inducted her as a match referee. She gained valuable experience at the domestic level in the country.
She was recognised as an ICC Match Referee in July 2022 and the upcoming World Cup will be her first ICC tournament.
Sri Lanka’s second match official in the tournament is Nimali Perera. She will be the first female umpire from the country to feature in a T20 World Cup.
Perera represented a number of domestic clubs in Sri Lanka during her playing days. She has stood as an umpire in T20Is, and recently featured in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2022.
Shandre Fritz has been involved with the game for a long time. She was a prolific international for South Africa, representing the national side for more than a decade.
She was appointed to the Match Referees Panel for the 2019-20 season by Cricket South Africa, and she is a part of the International Panel of ICC Match Referees.
She has refereed in both men’s and women’s domestic as well as international games. Fritz is the only match official at the event to have been involved in a T20 World Cup as a player.
Like Fritz, Sue Redfern has also played cricket for her country and represented her side at the World Cup, in the ODI format. She took to umpiring after her playing days.
Her first ICC appearance was in the World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015 in Thailand. Since then she has appeared in a number of ICC events. Redfern is also a part of the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires.
India’s Vrinda Rathi played cricket at the junior level, having represented Mumbai University as a medium pacer before getting into the game as a scorer.
She was the BCCI’s official scorer during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2013.
Along the way she took to umpiring, and has stood in a number of Women’s T20Is. Recently, she umpired in the Ranji Trophy encounter between Goa and Puducherry.