Richard Illingworth wins ICC Umpire of the Year 2023 award

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced Richard Illingworth as the ICC Umpire of the Year 2023. Richard Illingworth was the on-field umpire in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Finals between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi International Stadium in Ahmedabad. He has umpired in 64 Test matches, 90 ODIs and 27 T20Is. He has also umpired in Women’s cricket which includes one Women’s Test, six WODIs, and 13 WT20Is.

Richard Illingworth started his umpiring career in 2005 with Women’s cricket and then was promoted to Men’s cricket in 2010. He was born in Bradford, England, and has been on the ICC elite panel of umpires since 2013. He has umpired in major ICC events like the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, and ICC T20 World Cup. He was also one of the on-field umpires in the ICC World Test Championship Finals in 2021 which was played between India and New Zealand.

Richard Illingworth has also won the ICC Umpire of the Year in 2019. In 2019 he was one of the on-field umpires for the semi-finals between India and New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. He also won the David Shepherd trophy in 2019 alongside winning the ICC Umpire of the Year. Richard Illingworth has umpired in many important matches and is generally paired up with Richard Kettleborough, another member of the ICC elite panel of umpires.

The ICC announced him as the winner and congratulated him on their Twitter account. This is the second time that Richard Illingworth has won the ICC Umpire of the Year award. He has now won it in consecutive World Cup years in 2019 and 2023. Richard Illingworth was also a former cricketer for England and has been a part of the England squad in the 1992 World Cup.

Congratulations to England’s Richard Illingworth on winning the ICC Umpire of the Year 2023 ✨ pic.twitter.com/LZCPuflmuq

— ICC (@ICC) January 25, 2024

Richard Illingworth Has Represented England As A Player

The umpire has played nine Tests and 25 ODIs for England in his cricketing career. He was a left-arm spinner who also had a great record with the bat in domestic cricket. Richard Illingworth has played 376 First-Class matches and has taken 831 wickets at an average of 31.54. He also has amassed 7027 runs in 435 innings at an average of 22.45. Richard Illingworth has taken 19 wickets in his Test career and 30 wickets in ODIs. He has taken 27 five-wicket hauls in First-Class cricket and was a great spinner.

A very interesting fact about Richard Illingworth is that he and Kumar Dharamsena are the only two umpires to be a part of a World Cup Final as both a player and an umpire. Richard Illingworth was a part of the England team that reached the Finals in the 1992 World Cup against Pakistan. Illingworth was one of the players to take part in the match and he has umpired in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. He is one of the few umpires who have played international cricket for his country and he can be considered a great cricketer if one looks at his first-class record.