This Women’s World T20 was special in several ways. The final played between Australia and India made headlines as it garnered a record crowd of close to 90000 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
However, prior to the World Cup, the competition took the internet by storm as the ICC announced five female umpires in the 15-member umpiring team to officiate matches in the mega event. Here are the five women umpires who took center stage during the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20.
1. Sue Redfern
After retiring from playing, the former English player, Sue Redfern took up umpiring. She started off by standing only in local competitions. However, in July 2015 things changed drastically for her as she was a part of the umpiring team for an ODI between Australia and England (part of the 2014–16 ICC Women’s Championship) serving as the fourth umpire. In the same year, Redfern stood at the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier in Thailand. In January 2017, she was one of four female umpires named by the ICC to stand in matches in the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. She made history as she became the first woman to have played in a Women’s Cricket World Cup and then stand in a tournament as an umpire. In October 2018, she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires for the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20. In May 2019, the ICC named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In August 2019, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. Redfern was one of the five women umpires to have officiated matches during the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia.
2. Jacqueline Williams
Jacqueline Williams is a Jamaican cricket umpire. Williams stood as an umpire in the 2015 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament. A year later, she became the first female umpire to stand in the domestic 50-over competition in the West Indies. In 2017, the 44-year old was one of four female umpires named by the ICC to stand in matches in the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. In the ICC Women’s World T20 2018, she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires. The ICC named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires in May 2019. She stood in her first Twenty20 International (T20I) match, between Canada and the Cayman Islands in the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament on 18 August 2019. Later the same month, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. She stood in her first One Day International (ODI) match, between the United States and Papua New Guinea in the 2019 United States Tri-Nation Series on 13 September 2019. In January 2020, Williams was named as the third umpire for the first T20I between the West Indies and Ireland, becoming the first woman to officiate as a third umpire in a men’s international cricket match. Williams was one of the five women umpires to have officiated matches during the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia.
3. Claire Polosak
Claire Polosak, an Australian cricket umpire, is actually a school teacher. The 32-year old is one of the youngest woman umpires in cricket. In January 2017, she was one of four female umpires named by the ICC to stand in matches in the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. A year after, Polosak created history to become the first woman to umpire a match involving the England men’s cricket team and Cricket Australia XI in a warm-up game. In 2018, she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires for the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20. The next year, she was named as one of the eight on-field umpires for the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia. She officiated the final and became the first woman to stand in a men’s One Day International (ODI) match. In 2019, she was one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In the same year, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. In the recently concluded Women’s World T20 is Australia, Polosak was a part of the umpiring team, who officiated the matches.
4. Kim Cotton
Kim Cotton is a New Zealand cricket umpire. In 2018, Cotton was added to the Development Panel of ICC Umpires. The very same year she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires for the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20. In 2019, the ICC named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. Later in that year, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. This year Kim stood as one of the umpires in the ICC Women’s World T20 held in Australia. She was also of the two on-field umpires for the final of the tournament played between Australia and India.
5. Lauren Agenbag
Lauren Agenbag is a South African cricket umpire. Since February last year, she has set several firsts in regards to women’s umpiring in international and domestic cricket matches. In February 2019, she stood in the opening Women’s Twenty20 International (WT20I) match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, becoming the first South African women to umpire a T20I match. At the age of just 22, Lauren is believed to be the youngest person to umpire in an international cricket fixture, since George Coulthard did so in Australia in January 1879. In the same year when she made her debut as an umpire, the ICC named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. She also officiated matches during the 2019 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. Last year itself, Agenbag became the first woman to umpire in a senior men’s provincial match as well as in a first-class cricket match in South Africa. In February 2020, the ICC named her as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia. She was one of the five women umpires to have officiated matches during the recently concluded ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia.
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