Full name Brent Fraser Bowden
Born April 11, 1963, Henderson, Auckland
Current age 55 years 14 days
Other Umpire
Test debut | New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Mar 11-15, 2000 scorecard |
Last Test | West Indies v England at Bridgetown, May 1-3, 2015 scorecard |
Test matches | 84 |
Test statistics | |
ODI debut | New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Hamilton, Mar 29, 1995 scorecard |
Last ODI | New Zealand v Australia at Wellington, Feb 6, 2016 scorecard |
ODI matches | 200 |
ODI statistics | |
T20I debut | New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Feb 17, 2005 scorecard |
Last T20I | New Zealand v Pakistan at Wellington, Jan 22, 2016 scorecard |
T20I matches | 24 |
T20I statistics |
Some eccentrics are born. Others thrust eccentricity upon themselves. Step forward, Brent "Billy" Bowden, the New Zealand umpiring sensation who shot to fame with a zany array of embellished signals and a preposterous eye for showmanship. Bowden turned to umpiring after the onset of arthritis in his early-twenties, and earned a reputation for giving batsmen out with a curiously bent finger. Suitably encouraged, he threw out the rule-book which states that the best cricket officials are the ones that go unnoticed, and added a whole host of whacky twists to his daily routine. The most celebrated of these is his hop-on-one-leg-and-reach-for-Jesus signal for six, and he seems pre-programmed to pose throughout a match, even when ducking for his life as a pull-shot rockets through square-leg. For all the embellishments, his decision-making skills are almost without equal among the ICC's elite panel, although in 2007 he was suspended from standing at that year's inaugural Twenty20 World Championships, following his role in the farcical conclusion of the World Cup final in Barbados.
Andrew Miller June 2007