Former ICC Elite Panel umpire, Simon Taufel, has joined the Hero CPL match officials team. He will be working as one of the traveling match referees and also as Umpire Trainer and Assessor.
Taufel retired from umpiring in 2012, and won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year Awards from 2004 to 2008. After his retirement, he held the post of ICC Umpire Performance and Training Manager until August 2016.
Taufel was happy to join the CPL team: “When I was approached by the CPL and offered this assignment I had no hesitation in accepting it. Quite apart from having always enjoyed being in the Caribbean, the opportunity to support the tournament by developing reporting processes and systems which will provide more robust feedback on the performance of all the umpires in the tournament was something which definitely appealed to me.”
CPL Tournament Operations Director, Michael Hall was full of praise for Taufel, saying: “Simon’s resume speaks for itself, and we are happy that he will be sharing his vast experience and knowledge in support of our tournament umpires. Since June, in collaboration with Peter Nero, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Umpire Trainer and Assessor, he has been conducting remote training sessions with all CPL match officials, and this will culminate in a one-day seminar and workshop in Trinidad on September 3.”
When the 2019 tournament ends, Taufel will provide the CPL, CWI and the umpires with feedback reports which will help guide future umpiring appointments and provide the umpires with a clear indication of their strengths and weaknesses.
Taufel’s team includes ICC International Panel umpires Leslie Reifer Jnr. (Barbados) and Shaun George (South Africa), as well as CWI Tier 1 umpire Zahid Bassarath (Trinidad). The other team will be led by West Indian match referees Michael Ragoonath (Trinidad) and Reon King (Guyana) and will include ICC International Panel Umpires Nigel Duguid (Guyana), Gregory Brathwaite (Barbados) and Langton Rusere (Zimbabwe). (CPL)
