Bucknor May Stand in World Cup Final

Wed, Feb 5, '03

With appearances in the last three World Cup finals, cricket officials Tuesday have pegged umpire Steve Bucknor as a favorite to stand in the tournament's final this year in South Africa.

The 56-year-old Bucknor, from the north-coast Jamaican town of Montego Bay, left Monday for South Africa to officiate in six preliminary round matches, beginning with the February 10 game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

"Once the West Indies are not in the final, Bucknor has to be one of the umpires," Brian Breese of the Jamaica Cricket Association said of the March 23 match. "He is one of the top two umpires in the world and he has impeccable credentials," Breese said.

In 2001, Bucknor was among eight match officials named by the International Cricket Council to an elite panel of Test umpires.

"Since I have been to a few finals, the odds on me getting to this one may be a little bit better than others," Bucknor said Sunday night before leaving for South Africa. "We'll have to wait and see."

Bucknor officiated his first final between Pakistan and England in Melbourne in 1992.

Four years later, the World Cup panel chose him for the Sri Lanka-Australia final in Lahore, India. In 1999, he and Englishman David Sheperd were umpires for the final between Australia and Pakistan in London.

Since his first 1992 final, he has since stood in 102 one-dayers and 77 Test matches ? the most by an umpire in the longer form of the game.

It has not all been smooth, though. In the 1992 South Africa-India Test series, Bucknor was criticized by match referee Clive Lloyd after refusing to call for television replays that showed South African batsman Jonty Rhodes short of his ground.

Bucknor is the only West Indian umpire in the World Cup panel.

*SOURCE: CaribUpdate.