RateTheRef

Today’s match between Sri Lanka and England was due to be umpired by Tucker and Wimalasiri, however part through Englands innings Tucker was replaced by 4th Kottahachchi due to illness.

For what it’s worth, I reckon Illingworth will retire from the elite panel after the T20 World Cup. Apart from the 100 test mark which seems unlikely that he’ll reach, he has no more major milestones left to tick off. My opinion is that Chris Brown is next in line to be appointed to the elite panel.

I think Tucker will at least want to Umpire the 50 Over World Cup in 2027. I remember listening to him on a podcast where he stated he would have umpired the 2015 and 2023 finals if Australia didn’t make it, which of course they did! So I reckon he’ll want one more opportunity to umpire the 50 over final. Of course ICC could remove him when they review the panel this year….I hope not as I think he’s a good umpire.

For the first time in a long time, I’m going to watch Ipswich play in the flesh and I’m very excited to see Tom Kirk in the middle for that one. One of the stars of the season thus far and hopefully he’ll be great.

Kitchen returns to St Andrews for the first time since opening weekend. Not sure he’ll be greeted warmly by the crowd.

Jacob Miles with another game too.

Kitchen refereed Birmingham v Portsmouth at St Andrews on 1st November. I’d say there was hardly any reaction to him from the crowd. It did help Birmingham won 4-0 and he awarded Birmingham a penalty after about 5 minutes!

Chris Gaffaney was outstanding in the India v South Africa Test. No decisions overturned in probably the hardest conditions it gets to umpire with uneven bounce, excessive turn. He should have gone past Illlingworth to be named umpire of the year. Illingworth has slipped a bit since the WTC final

Though I think Illingworth is a good umpire, I don’t think he’s deserving of winning umpire of the year x years in a row. I also don’t think he deserves to have monopolised appointments to ICC finals! In my opinion Kettleborough, Tucker, Gaffaney and Dharmasena have all been equally as good if not better over the last few years.

Q

Ashes 2025 is less than a weeks time.Still haven't found any official announcements of the match officials.Can anyone clarify the match officials list?

I suspect they will be released this weekend. As others have said and looking at other appointments, Menon, Holdstock and Saikat are the only Elite Panel umpires available for the 1st test! As they haven’t been used for a while, I reckon that Menon and Holdstock will be onfield and Saikat TV umpire.

India v South Africa Series
14/11/2025 – Test – Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Match Referee: Richard Richardson
On-field Umpires: Rod Tucker, Chris Gaffaney
TV Umpire: Richard Kettleborough
Reserve: J R Madangopal (sic)

22/11/2025 – Test – Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati

Match Referee: Richard Richardson
On-field Umpires: Rod Tucker, Richard Kettleborough
TV Umpire: Chris Gaffaney
Reserve: Rohan Pandit

These appointments take Rod Tucker to 98 tests. After the Ashes the only test matches before the English summer are 2 test matches in March and April between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Can imagine Tucker being appointed to 1 of those matches and then appointed to the 1st test between England and New Zealand at Lords for his 100th test!

Incidentally in his last test match Tucker went past Daryll Harper as the most capped Australian test umpire.

The New Zealand v West Indies appointments definitely rule Paleker out of the first three ashes tests. He could possibly do the Boxing Day test as TV umpire and be onfield for the 5th test, though I do think with the turnaround times that wouldn’t be advisable! But ICC have done similar before….

I thought Tucker and Raza had an excellent test match. Their decision making was spot on and they seemed to be much more proactive in speeding up the play and were pretty hot on England throwing the ball into the practice pitches.