Sue Redfern is all set to create history as she will become the first woman umpire to officiate in an England men’s home international game. Redfern has been appointed as the fourth umpire for the England-Sri Lanka first T20I to be played on Wednesday in Cardiff.
Redfern has replaced Alex Wharf after being kept as a standby for her. She was kept in place as standby to ensure a replacement is ready if the ongoing WTC final stretches into the reserve day, which coincides with the first T20I in Wales between England and Sri Lanka.
In an interaction with ESPNcricinfo, Redfern spoke of how privileged she feels following her appointment in Cardiff and added she also sees it as an opportunity.
“It’s going to be a great experience. I’m feeling pretty privileged. It’s unexpected but at the same time, it’s a great opportunity to showcase that females can officiate in a variety of environments,”
she said.
The 43-year-old Redfern, who played 6 Tests and 15 ODIs for England, has been a regular on-field umpire in women’s cricket for a while now. Seen recently officiating the India-England women’s Test in Bristol, she brings a wealth of experience to her job.
Back in 2016, Redfern was part of another historic occasion when she officiated for an Oman-Nigeria World Cricket League Division 5 match alongside Jacqueline Williams, a Caribbean based official who did the third umpiring duties. It was the first instance of two women umpires officiating in an ICC men’s international tournament.
During the India-Australia New Year’s Test in Sydney last winter, Claire Polosak became the first woman umpire to officiate a men’s Test match, something Redfern takes a lot of heart from as she feels more and more women umpires should be doing the men’s internationals.
“I’d like to see any official, whatever their aspirations are, that they can fulfill those aspirations if they’re good enough. What we’re looking for is people with the right skills officiating in the right games,”
she said.
