List of all the top Female Cricket Umpires in the World

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.

Here are some of the female international umpires around the world:

• 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.

• Jacqueline Williams:

 

This Jamaican umpire is a seasoned umpire having officiated five ODIs, 16 T20Is, 17 WODIs, and 43 WT20Is to date. She made her umpiring debut in 2015 when she stood as an umpire in the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifiers. 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. With respect to men’s cricket, she stood in her first T20I match, between Canada and the Cayman Islands in the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifiers tournament in 2019. In that year, she also made her ODI umpiring debut standing as an umpire in a match between the United States and Papua New Guinea in the United States Tri-Nation Series. In 2020, she created history as she became the first woman to officiate as the third umpire in a men’s T20I between the West Indies and Ireland. In 2020, she was one the umpires for the ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia. In January 2022, she was named as one of the on-field umpires for the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup held in the West Indies.

• 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.

• Kim Cotton:

 

The umpire from New Zealand has officiated in one T20I, 12 WODIs, and 34 WT20Is. 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. She was one of the two on-field umpires to officiate the 2020 Women’s World T20 final between India and Australia.

• Lauren Agenbag:

 

She is one of the youngest international women umpires. To date, this South African umpire has officiated three WODIs and 32 WT20Is. Her first international match as an umpire was in 2019 when she stood in a WT20I match between South Africa and Sri Lanka. She became the first South African woman to umpire a T20I match. In the same year, she was named in the ICC Development Panel of Umpires and was also one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. In 2020, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia. In 2021, she made her WODI umpiring debut when she stood as an umpire in a match between South Africa and Pakistan.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• Anna Harris:

 

This English umpire made her international umpiring debut in 2021 when she stood as an on-field umpire in a WODI between New Zealand and England on September 19. At just 22 years of age, she became the youngest ever umpire to officiate an international match. So far, she has officiated two WODIs and several other domestic matches, including the ones played in the Hundred. Apart from being an umpire, she played domestic cricket for Wales, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire.

• Shivani Mishra:

 

The India-born umpire who is currently based out of Qatar has officiated 11 men’s T20I games so far. She works with Qatar Cricket Association and is an ACC-affiliated Level 3 Coach, Level 2 Umpire, and ICC-affiliated Match Referee. In 2019, she became the first female to umpire in a men’s T20I match. In the same year, she became the first Asian woman to be a part of the ICC Development Panel for umpires.

• Doris Turner:

She was a former English cricketer, who represented England in four Tests between 1934 and 1935. Those four Tests were the first four Tests in the history of England women’s Test cricket. After retiring from international cricket, she decided to become an umpire. In 1959, she became the first female umpire to stand as an umpire in two Women’s Tests, one played in 1963 and the other in 1966.

• Mary Waldron:

 

She is a professional cricketer and a professional footballer, having represented Ireland in both sports at the national level. Apart from cricket and football, she has also played field hockey. She has featured in 100+ international cricket matches for Ireland between 2010 and 2021. While playing cricket, she decided to pursue a career in umpiring. In 2019, she was named on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In that same year, she made her T20I umpiring debut when she stood as an umpire for a match between Italy and Norway. To date, she has officiated six T20Is.