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

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. He was convicted in 1999 of 15 counts of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, whi ...

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

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

between 1981 and 1982.

Biography

Randell was born in

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smal ...

. 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 first match was between Australia and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

on 22 to 27 December 1984, a drawn match with Australia holding on in the final innings, thanks to a determined century by Andrew Hilditch to deny the West Indies a 12th consecutive Test victory. Randell's partner was Peter McConnell. In 1994, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

on 30 January to 3 February 1998, finishing in a draw, with captain Mark Taylor dominating the first innings with 169 and

Mark Waugh Mark Edward Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) deb ...

scoring a century in the second innings. Randell's colleague was the New Zealander, Doug Cowie. Randell's last Test match was between

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...

on 21–25 March 1998. Randell umpired 88

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

(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