Rudi Koertzen, a much accomplished and revered cricket umpire, passed away in a fatal car accident on August 9. Koertzen, 73, who lived in Despatch in Nelson Mandela Bay, was on his way back home from Cape Town after a golf weekend, and the accident occurred around the Riversdale area.
The South African team, which is currently on the England tour, will wear black bands in honour of Koertzen during their four-day practice match against the England Lions at St. Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, beginning August 9.
Koertzen stood as an on-field umpire in a total of 331 international matches (108 Tests, 209 ODIs and 14 T20Is), a tally only bettered by Pakistan’s Aleem Dar. He also served as the Television umpire in 20 Tests, 41 ODIs and five T20Is in an umpiring career spanning between 1992 and 2010.
He stood in his first ever Test at 43, during India’s tour of South Africa in 1992, which was also the first series in which television replays were used to judge run-outs. In 1997, he was appointed as a full-time International Cricket Council umpire, and in 2002, he became a member of the elite panel.
Koertzen officiated in a number of major tournaments, like the 2003 and 2007 ODI World Cups, wherein he was the on-field umpire in the semis and the third-umpire in the finals, and in the 2004 and the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, officiating on-field in the finals.
He also stood in the 2005 Ashes series in England, and in the same year, was one of the four umpires in the ICC Super Series, played between the then World Champions Australia and the World XI, alongside Simon Taufel, Aleem Dar and Darrell Hair.
