• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

The Top Umpires of all time

bullseye

School Boy/Girl Captain
We all know that the result of a match primarily depends on a team that either Bats, Bowls, Fields or is Led better or could be a combination of these.

But there is also one other vital factor that plays a key role in the outcome of a match.

That is Umpiring.

Back in the olden days we hade only Home Umpires officiating matches and instinctively or unconsciously a few decisions went in favor with of home team which resulted in bad taste.

With the advent of Neutral Umpires, generally speaking, there is now less controversial decisions .

We still have wrong decisions as Umpires like any of us are also human and will make mistakes . Bt the margin of error is much less than before. Also with introduction of Third Umpire Referrals life has become much easier now.

Nowadays Umpires can refer cases of Run Outs, Stumpings, unsure boundary, Over boundary shots to name a few to the Third Umpire.

So having said all these lets figure out the performance of some of the of best umpires to have officiated Test or One day Cricket.

Reader’s can choose up to five.

Here is my take:

1.Dickie Bird (England)
2.Simon Taufel (Australia)
3.David Shepherd (England)
4.Aleem Dar(Pakistan)
5.Rudi Koertzen(SouthAfrica)

What’s Reader’s selection?

Who’s next?

Good Luck to everyone!
 

Dissector

International Debutant
I believe Frank Chester was rated the best umpire by Don Bradman. Of course he umpired at a time before tv replays when only players could evaluate the quality of umpiring.
 

andyc

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Obviously wasn't really around to see Dickie Bird, but was his reputation built out of being a character, or a good umpire? Thought he was fairly reluctant to give lbws.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
You certainly couldn't accuse Dickie of being trigger happy but its impossible to compare umpires because the technology to "prove" their mistakes hasn't been around long - also its not that many years ago when the commentators never openly criticised - if there was what appeared to be a bad decision the most controversial comment you'd get would be "X may have been a little (un)fortunate there"
 

grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Dickie Bird was a shockingly bad "not out " umpire IMHO. If he was umpiring on today's flatter pitches there'd be scores of 600 every innings. Hated it when he was umpiring:@

Mind you he was consistent for both sides so he was top-class in that way.

Agree with fredfertang, very hard to judge todays umps with yesteryears because of the technology available now.
 
Last edited:

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Despite the apparent catalogue of errors in Test Matches these days the standard of umpiring has never been better. Dickie Bird was the best of his day but that's not saying much. Even he wouldn't stand up to the endless scrutiny that umpires today are subjected to. One man worthy of mention from the recentish past is Tony Crafter who was as near to a good Australian umpire as you could get in those days.
Simon Taufel is an amazing man - the Don Bradman of umpiring.:)
 

Isura

U19 Captain
Today's umpires are much better than any umpires in the past. They undergo more rigorous training and scrutiny, and rarely make terrible decisions
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Think old Dickie's a bit overrated because he was such a loveable character. Knew where you stood with him, but he'd have to alter his LBW criteria nowadays.
 

Uppercut

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Simon Taufel is an amazing man - the Don Bradman of umpiring.:)
Yeah, agree with this. It's almost at the stage where your train of thought goes, "hey, that looks out!... ... Nah, Taufel didn't give it, must have been slipping down leg."
 

benchmark00

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Used to be very critical of Aleem Dar due to his submissive body language, but he has seriously impressed me with his decision making. Would rate him the best in the world aws.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
s.
Simon Taufel is an amazing man - the Don Bradman of umpiring.:)
No doubt Simon is amazing but no Bradman of the umpires. It is quite close between him and Aleem Dar IMO. Aleem Dar is awesome and you go and check out a video Shane Warne vs Aleem Dar on youtube. The guy is really amazing
 

smash84

The Tiger King
Used to be very critical of Aleem Dar due to his submissive body language, but he has seriously impressed me with his decision making. Would rate him the best in the world aws.
very close between him and Simon IMO. Might go with Dar with my bias but i do agree that he has given some fantastic decisions.
 

flibbertyjibber

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Bucknor was very good in his early years,we should forget his last 4 or 5 when he was clearly not the same umpire he used to be.

The best i have seen in no particular order are...

Taufel
Bird
Bucknor
Willey
Shep

With an honourable mention for Hair.:ph34r:
 

vcs

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Who was that Indian umpire who raised his finger to give Jadeja out against SL and then proceeded to scratch his head instead? :ph34r: I nominate him.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
Bucknor was very good in his early years,we should forget his last 4 or 5 when he was clearly not the same umpire he used to be.

The best i have seen in no particular order are...

Taufel
Bird
Bucknor
Willey
Shep

With an honourable mention for Hair.:ph34r:
Willey???:laugh:
 

Top