The 2022 Women’s World Cup has been groundbreaking for not only Female Cricketers. It also has been groundbreaking for Female Match officials. Yesterday, ICC announced an all-women match officials line up for the final.
South Africa’s Lauren Agenbag and Kim Cotton of New Zealand will be the two on-field umpires, while West Indies’ Jacqueline Williams will officiate as the TV umpire. Joining these women will be Hyderabad’s GS Lakshmi who will be the Match Referee for the Final.
World Cup 2022 Final is set to create history on 3rd April 2022.#CWC22 pic.twitter.com/OhvgQRcM1a
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) April 1, 2022
GS Lakshmi who’s from Hyderabad became the 1st Woman to join the ICC International Panel of Match Officials in 2019. She also made history in 2020 when she became the First female match official in men’s Cricket as she was the referee in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 in UAE in December 2020.
Reacting to her selection as the 2022 World Cup Final Match Referee, the 53-year-old GS Lakshmi shared her excitement with Telangana Today. She said, “I was over the moon when I was told that I was nominated for the final on Sunday. It is a dream come true for me. I dreamt of playing for India which unfortunately could not happen. But God was kind enough to make me a match referee. I am honored to officiate as a match referee in the Final on Sunday.
Sharing her thoughts on the 2022 Women’s World Cup so far, Lakshmi said that the tournament has been exciting so far with a lot of competitive matches. She is happy to see 270 plus scores regularly posted by women. She’s also happy to see the aggressiveness of the Women on the field. It has helped match officials to step up their game and has taken women’s cricket to a whole new level.
Yet another feather to her cap 😍
ICC announces India’s GS Lakshmi as match referee for the Women’s World Cup final#CWC22 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/n8TfvSifkx
— Female Cricket #CWC22 (@imfemalecricket) April 2, 2022
Lakshmi also hopes that her performance will inspire more women to take up match officiating. She’s happy that ICC has committed to a gender-equitable sport which resulted in 8 of the 15 match officials being women. She hopes to fulfill one more important dream of her’s which is to be a match official in the men’s Cricket World Cup. She hopes the ICC panel will acknowledge her work.
Lakshmi will be the official match referee in the Final of the 2022 Women’s World Cup between Australia and England which will be played at Christchurch on Sunday, April 3rd.
Follow Female Cricket on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and updates around Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022
Loves all things female cricket
