Cricket Australia congratulates Umpires Claire Polosak, Phil Gillespie, and Bob Stratford for officiating their first women’s Test match.
On September 30, Cricket Australia put up a congratulatory post on their Twitter, lauding Umpires Claire Polosak, Phil Gillespie and Bob Stratford for their appointment as officials of their first-ever women’s Test match between the Australian and Indian women at the CommBank Series.
A proud moment for Umpires Claire Polosak and Phil Gillespie, alongside Match Referee Bob Stratford, who are all officiating their first women’s Test match! 👏 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/VI82pBhDco
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) September 30, 2021
Cricket Australia wrote, “A proud moment for Umpires Claire Polosak and Phil Gillespie, alongside Match Referee Bob Stratford, who are all officiating their first women’s Test match!”
CA also congratulated Polosak on becoming the first Australian woman to umpire all three international cricket formats. “We extend a huge congratulations to Claire Polosak, who today becomes the first Australian woman to umpire all three formats of international cricket.”
Phil Gillespie is on Cricket Australia’s National Umpire Panel while Claire Polosak is on the Supplementary Umpire Panel.
Polosak has several admirable achievements to her name. She was the first woman to stand in a men’s ODI in April 2019 and also became the first woman to officiate a men’s Test match as the fourth umpire at Australia versus India Test in Sydney earlier this year. Additionally, she was also the first woman umpire to stand in an Australian men’s domestic fixture after officiating a one-day match between New South Wales and a Cricket Australia XI in 2017.
Bob Stratford is a member of Cricket Australia’s Match Referees Panel and has overseen 14 WODIs and 10 WT20Is. He has been appointed as the Match Referee for the entire CommBank Series.
The other officials appointed for the Test match are Bruce Oxenford as the 3rd Umpire, Elosie Sheridan as the 4th Umpire and Peter Gagen and Tracey Moody as the Scorers.
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