Stephen Grant Randell (born 19 February 1956) is a former Australian Test cricket match umpire, the first to come from

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. He was convicted in 1999 of 15 counts of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

against nine schoolgirls of ages 10–12 while teaching at a Catholic

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

between 1981 and 1982.

Biography

Randell was born in

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, it is the southernmo ...

. He umpired 36 Test matches between 1984 and 1998, the highest number by an Australian umpire to that time (the previous highest was Tony Crafter's 33 matches). His umpiring debut was the Fourth Test between

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and 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 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

from December 22-27, 1984. Randell's partner was Peter McConnell. In 1994, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

introduced a policy of appointing one umpire to each Test match from a non-participating country. Ten of Randell's matches were played outside Australia, and did not involve Australia. His last Test match involving Australia was against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

on 30 January to 3 February 1998, finishing in a draw, with captain Mark Taylor dominating the first innings with 169 and Mark Waugh scoring a century in the second innings. Randell's colleague was the New Zealander, Doug Cowie. Randell's last Test match was between

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

on 21–25 March 1998. Randell umpired 88

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 ...

(ODI) matches between 1984 and 1998. He umpired one women's ODI in 1991. Altogether, he umpired 119 first-class matches in his career between 1980 and 1998. At the club level, Randell was a left-hand batsman for the South Hobart and Sandy Bay clubs. Off the field he was a school-teacher with the Tasmanian Education Department.

Sexual assault conviction

His cricket and professional careers ended when he was convicted in August 1999 of 15 separate counts of

against nine schoolgirls of ages 10–12 while teaching at a Catholic

between 1981 and 1982. He was sentenced to four years jail with a two-year minimum, and was released on parole in May 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Randell, Steve 1956 births Living people Australian educators Australian One Day International cricket umpires Australian people convicted of child sexual abuse Australian Test cricket umpires Sportspeople from Hobart

Biography

Sexual assault conviction

See also

References

External links