Stephen Anthony Bucknor, OJ (born 31 May 1946) is a Jamaican former international cricket umpire. Bucknor umpired in a record 128 Test matches between 1989 and 2009, and also umpired in 181

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s during this period, including five consecutive

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finals from 1992 to 2007. Before becoming a cricket umpire, he was a football player and

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

and a high school

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teacher. In October 2007, he was awarded the

Order of Jamaica The Order of Jamaica is the fifth of the six orders in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and it is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system. Membership in the Order can be conferred upon ...

, Commander Class, for "outstanding services in the field of sports".

Football goalkeeper

Bucknor played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

in Jamaican parish leagues in the 1960s. In 1964 he played in goal for Jamaica in a schoolboy international versus

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, which Jamaica drew 1–1.

Football referee

Bucknor was a

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referee in a CONCACAF and

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qualifier between El Salvador and the Netherlands Antilles in 1988.

Cricket umpire

Bucknor's first international cricket fixture was a

(ODI) between the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

at Antigua on 18 March 1989. His first Test match was at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, between 28 April and 3 May 1989, with the competing teams again being the West Indies and India. After umpiring in a few international matches, he was selected to umpire at the 1992

, held in Australia and New Zealand, and went on to stand in the final despite being quite inexperienced. Bucknor also officiated in the next four World Cup finals in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007, with the 2007 World Cup taking place in his native West Indies. In 1994 the ICC introduced a policy whereby one of the umpires in each Test match would be independent of the competing nations, selected from an International Panel of Umpires. Bucknor was a member of this panel from its foundation until the ICC changed its policy on umpires again in 2002. Since then both umpires in Test matches, and one of the umpires in ODIs have been independent of the competing countries. The officials are now chosen from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, whom the ICC consider to be the world's best umpires. Bucknor maintained a place on the Elite Panel from its foundation until his retirement. In May 2006, he accused TV companies of doctoring their images to make umpires look bad and key players look good. Bucknor was one of the standing umpires in the 2007 Cricket World Cup final, during which play was infamously continued despite very poor light. Consequently, he and the four other officials involved were suspended from the

2007 ICC World Twenty20 The 2007 ICC World Twenty20 was the inaugural edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20 that was contested in South Africa from 11 to 24 September 2007. Twelve teams took part in the thirteen-day tournament� ...

in South Africa. Dave Richardson, the general manager of cricket at the ICC, has said Bucknor's umpiring accuracy was at 96% during 2005–06, above the average of 94.8% for the Elite Panel. In 2007, he was short-listed for the Umpire of the Year award, which was ultimately won by Simon Taufel. In January 2008, he was removed by the ICC from officiating in the third Test between Australia and India in Perth, and replaced by Billy Bowden, after his several incorrect decisions in the second Test in Sydney had contributed to India's defeat. Former umpire Dickie Bird suggested that Bucknor had "gone on too long", while Bucknor blamed the BCCI's financial power for his ouster. Looking back on his career, Steve Bucknor recalled making several incorrect decisions against Sachin Tendulkar from India. The ICC confirmed on 23 February 2009 that Bucknor had decided to retire from umpiring in March 2009. His final Test match was the 3rd Test between

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and

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at Cape Town on 19–23 March, and his last One Day International match was the 4th ODI between his native West Indies and

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at Barbados on 29 March, bringing his 20-year career as an official to an end.

Achievements as an umpire

Cricket World Cup

Bucknor has stood as an onfield umpire in five World Cup tournaments, during which he has officiated 44 matches including five finals.

Test match record

Bucknor held the record for the most Test matches umpired until December 2019, when Aleem Dar of Pakistan stood in his 129th Test match as an on-field umpire, surpassing his record of officiating in the most number of Test matches. He was the first umpire to have officiated in over 100 Test matches.

Awards

Bucknor has received the ICC's Bronze Bails Awards for umpiring in 100 ODIs, as well as the Golden Bails Award for umpiring 100 Test matches.

References

External links

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website.
Main page of Elite Panel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucknor, Steve Living people People from Montego Bay Jamaican cricket umpires Jamaican football referees Members of the Order of Jamaica West Indian Test cricket umpires West Indian One Day International cricket umpires 1946 births Cornwall College, Jamaica alumni