Taufel named top umpire for a third time

Simon Taufel was named as Umpire of the Year for the third successive time at the ICC Awards in Mumbai. Taufel, was picked by the ten Test captains as well as the eight-man Elite Panel of ICC Referees.

"On behalf of the ICC I would like to congratulate Simon on this award," said Percy Sonn, the ICC president. "He is a brilliant umpire and it is good to see that he is being recognised as such. It is clear that the players and the referees have enormous confidence in him and rightly so. He has once again had an outstanding year making decisions in pressure situations all over the world and this award reflects the fact he has got the vast majority of those decisions right.

"Mind you, it should be pointed out that the competition for this award was very tough because all the members of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires are excellent decision-makers in both ODIs and in the longer form of the game."

Taufel, 35, made his first-class debut as an umpire in 1994-95 and joined the Elite Panel in 2003.

"It is good to win an individual award but really it should be remembered that umpiring is a team sport," Taufel told the audience. "There are two guys out there in the middle, one in the box and a fourth umpire too so although it's great to win this, it's not an individual effort.

"Winning this for the third time is possibly even more special for me because it tells me that what I am doing is along the right lines and it inspires me to keep improving in what I am doing. It is also a tribute to my coaches and family who have been supporting to me for so long. "It can be a tough existence at times and it's not easy to keep at the top of your game but it is events like this that make a difference to us. Perhaps the ICC Awards will inspire other people to choose umpiring as a possible career path and that can only be good for the game."