We talked about one of the most universally loved umpires in cricket history Billy Bowden in our previous article and now we will talk about perhaps the most Controversial umpire in the history of the game and one who is not liked all that much by Indian fans especially since 2008. With that being said Steve Bucknor is still a legendary umpire who deserves to be celebrated and is one of the few umpires from West Indies to have risen to such prominence.
Steve Bucknor officiated In a lot of test matches and ODIs in his career the stats which we will talk about later on but I want to say that Steve Bucknor should not only be judged from the one bad test match that he had in 2008 and people should look at his overall umpiring career and give more respect to him as mistakes happen from everyone. I as an Indian fan have learned to appreciate Steve Bucknor a lot more now. So, let’s see the Profile Career and Stats of Steve Bucknor.
Profile
The full name of Steve Bucknor is Stephen Anthony Bucknor and he was born on 31st May 1946 in Montego Bay in Jamaica. He was a football lover and he played football as a goalkeeper in the Jamaican parish leagues In the 1960s and in 1964 as a school boy he played as a goalkeeper for Jamaica vs Brazil and the score was 1-1. Steve Bucknor was also a FIFA designated referee and he officiated a CONCACAF and a World Cup Qualifier between El Salvador and Netherlands in 1988. He was unable to continue playing football so he decided to become a cricket umpire.
Career
Steve Bucknor became a cricket umpire in 1989 when he officiated his first ODI between West Indies and India in 1989 at Antigua. His first year match as an Umpire was in 1992 and yet again it was a test match between West Indies and India. This was a great co- incidence and from there he did not look back. He was an umpire in the 1992 World Cup and was a stand in umpire in the 1992 Final and he did good and so in the 1996,1999,2003 and 2007 World Cups he was an umpire and he officiated in all the finals of the 4 Works Cups. His downfall began in 2008 from that infamous Sydney Test Match between Australia and India and he was also accused of wrongly giving Sachin Tendulkar out numerous times even when he was not out. He was an umpiring legend and he finally decided to retire in 2009 thus ending a 20 year career.
Stats
Format | First Match | Last Match | Total Matches |
Test Cricket | West Indies vs India at Jamaica - 1992 | South Africa vs Australia at Cape Town - 2009 | 128 Tests as an Umpire |
ODIs | West Indies vs India at Antigua - 1989 | West Indies vs England at Barbados - 2009 | 181 ODIs as an Umpire |
Also Read: Billy Bowden Profile Career and Stats
