A fearless umpire whose continuous questioning of cricket officialdom has landed him in troubled waters and somewhat stalled his progress as an umpire. Jagath Nandakumara is an umpire who has made it to the top the hard way and is one who despises those who have bypassed him under Sri Lanka Cricket's fast track program. A brilliant cricketer at St Thomas' College Matara from the under 15 age group where he excelled as an all-rounder winning all the top prizes, Nandakumara made his first-class debut with United Southern SC before going onto play for Galle CC, Singha SC, Matara SC and Southern Province with distinction. He graduated to become a qualified cricket coach and coached his alma mater which produced cricketers in the calibre of Indika de Saram and Prabath Nissanka who went onto play for Sri Lanka. His first official international match was the 4-day unofficial test between Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A at Galle in 2001. In 2004 he was standby umpire for ODI between Sri Lanka and England. He is a teacher by profession.
Sa'adi Thawfeeq February 2008