The next Umpire on our list is the great Rudi Koertzen of South Africa and he is the best Umpire that South Africa has ever seen and getting inspired by him a lot of young South Africa umpires are coming in the scene now. Rudi Koertzen is a world class and highly experienced umpire and he was widely respected by all the players and his fellow Umpires and to many he was a mentor as well. Rudi Koertzen had a stunning 18 year career as an Umpire from 1992-2010 and he officiated in more than 320 international matches across the 3 formats of the sport
Rudi Koertzen was one of those Umpires who got most of his decisions spot on and he had a lot of pressure as he was officiating the important matches in each format. The likes of Simon Taufel took inspiration from him and when they were both together Rudi Koertzen used to help the young Simon Taufel a lot. Let’s look at his profile career and stats.
Profile
The full name of Rudi Koertzen is Rudolf Eric Koertzen and he was born in Knysna in Western Cape South Africa. He was born on 26th March 1949 and he came into cricket umpiring very late in his life in 1992 and till then he was just a fan of the game and had no intention of becoming an umpire and as fate would have it he became an Umpire and the rest is history. Rudi Koertzen was also one of the few umpires who has gotten to officiate in more than 100 Test Matches and 200 ODIs and only a handful of other elite Umpires have gotten this high honor. Now since 2010, he is enjoying a retired life and helps the younger generation of umpires from South Africa make their names in international cricket.
Also Read: Steve Bucknor Profile Career and Stats
Career
He officiated his first ODI match in 1992 which was between South Africa and India at Port Elizabeth and the first test match was also in 1992 between South Africa and India at Port Elizabeth and that is a coincidence. In 1997 he became a full time ICC Umpire and in the 2003 and 2007 World Cup events he was the umpire in semi finals of both events and the third umpire in both World Cup Finals. Rudi Koertzen was the first Umpire to officiate in 200 ODIs breaking the record of David Shepherd. Let’s look at his stats now.
Also Read | Billy Bowden Profile, Career and Stats
Stats
Format | First Match as an Umpire | Last Match as an Umpire | Total Matches as an Umpire |
Test Cricket | South Africa vs India at Port Elizabeth - 1992 | Australia vs Pakistan at Leeds - 2010 | 108 |
ODIs | South Africa vs India at Port Elizabeth - 1992 | Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka at Harare - 2010 | 209 |
T20IS | South Africa vs Pakistan at Johannesburg -2007 | West Indies vs Australia at Gros Islet - 2010 | 14 |
Also Read: Simon Taufel Profile Career and Stats
