Simon Taufel has resigned as the International Cricket Council (ICC) Umpire Performance and Training manager.
Sources close to him said the 44-year-old Australian would demit office on October 31. Taufel was known as the best umpire in the world, winning five ICC Best Umpire Awards from 2004 to 2008. He joined the ICC after the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in 2012. The ICC, though, is keen to avail Taufel’s expertise with a revised job description.
Taufel, who has been associated with the BCCI’s umpire programmes since 2006, will be at the Board’s Umpire Academy in Nagpur on 27 and 28 to run a programme for the BCCI’s fresh batch of umpires who passed the examinations this year. Taufel will also run a programme for the Umpire Educators at Nagpur on October 30 and 31.
A week ago Sachin Tendulkar confirmed that Taufel and Steve Davis would be the on-field umpires for the three-match ‘Cricket-All Stars’ series to be played between Sachin’s Blasters and Warne’s Warriors in New York on November 7, Houston on November 11 and Los Angeles on November 14. South African Marais Erasmus will be the third umpire.
Taufel had an excellent rapport with Indian umpires and he could be largely credited with recognising the excellent work of S. Ravi and promoting him to the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires for 2015-16.
