A field that was typically dominated by men is slowly flexing itself as it is embracing women into it. In the world of cricket, umpiring has arguably been the male-dominated field with seldom any females taking the field to officiate a match. However, in recent times things are steadily changing. There have been many female umpires at the international level contributing to the gender diversity in the field of umpiring.
1. Sue Redfern
She is a former English cricketer who featured in six Tests and 15 ODIs for England between 1995 and 1999. After hanging up her boots from playing cricket, she decided to take up umpiring. Initially, she umpired only local matches. However, as years rolled by she started getting better opportunities. In July 2015, she was the fourth umpire for a WODI between Australia and England. Later in 2015, she was named as one of the umpires for the World T20 Qualifiers in Thailand. A couple of years later, in 2017, she was one of the umpires for the ICC Women’s World Cup in England. By doing so, she became the first woman to play a World Cup and umpire in a World Cup match. In 2018, she was one of the 12 on-field umpires for the Women’s T20 World Cup. In 2019, she was named in the ICC Development Panel of Umpires and in the same year, she was the umpire during ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifiers in Scotland. In 2020, she was one of the umpires named to officiate the Women’s World T20 in Australia. In 2021, she became the first woman to officiate an England men’s home match (v Sri Lanka) when she served as the fourth umpire. To date, she has officiated one Women’s Test, 18 WODIs and 37 WT20Is.
2. Jacqueline Williams
She is a former English cricketer who featured in six Tests and 15 ODIs for England between 1995 and 1999. After hanging up her boots from playing cricket, she decided to take up umpiring. Initially, she umpired only local matches. However, as years rolled by she started getting better opportunities. In July 2015, she was the fourth umpire for a WODI between Australia and England. Later in 2015, she was named as one of the umpires for the World T20 Qualifiers in Thailand. A couple of years later, in 2017, she was one of the umpires for the ICC Women’s World Cup in England. By doing so, she became the first woman to play a World Cup and umpire in a World Cup match. In 2018, she was one of the 12 on-field umpires for the Women’s T20 World Cup. In 2019, she was named in the ICC Development Panel of Umpires and in the same year, she was the umpire during ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifiers in Scotland. In 2020, she was one of the umpires named to officiate the Women’s World T20 in Australia. In 2021, she became the first woman to officiate an England men’s home match (v Sri Lanka) when she served as the fourth umpire. To date, she has officiated one Women’s Test, 18 WODIs and 37 WT20Is.
3. Claire Polosak
Though a school teacher by profession, Polosak has been an impressive cricket umpire from Australia. In 2017, she was one of four female umpires for the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. In 2018, she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires for the ICC Women’s World T20. In 2019, she was named in the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In the same year, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. In 2020, she was one of the umpires for the ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia. In 2021, she became the first female to be involved as an umpire (fourth umpire) in a men’s Test match that was played between Australia and India. So far, she has officiated one women’s Test, 18 WODIs, 35 WT20Is, and a solitary ODI.
4. Eloise Sheridan
This Australian umpire has officiated one women’s Test, one WODI, and 11 WT20Is since making her international umpiring debut in 2019 when she was named as one of the umpires for the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. She made her WODI umpiring debut in 2021 during India’s tour of Australia. In 2022, she made her Test umpiring debut when she was named as one of the two on-field umpires for the one-off Women’s Test match as a part of the Ashes series between Australia and England, which was played as a part of the Women’s Ashes.
5. Kathy Cross
The New Zealand-born umpire is one of the senior-most international female umpires, who retired from international umpiring in 2018. She officiated 52 WODIs and 19 WT20Is between 2000 and 2018. Her umpiring journey started in the 1998-99 cricket season after she quit playing the sport. During the 2000 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, she was the New Zealand representative. In 2002, she became the first woman to be selected in a Test match umpiring team when she was named as the fourth umpire for a match between New Zealand and England in Wellington. In that same year, she became the first woman to be selected to the ICC Associate and Affiliate panel of international umpires. In 2017, she was one of four female umpires for the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers. She has been an umpire in 22 Women’s Cricket World Cup matches, which is the most by any umpire in the history of the Women’s Cricket World Cup. Her final international match as an umpire was on 16 March 2018, when she officiated a WT20I between New Zealand and the West Indies.
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