Suzanne Redfern MBE (born 26 October 1977) is an English

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket''. Besides ...

and former cricketer. She played for the England women's team between 1995 and 1999, including at the 1997 World Cup.

Cricket career

Born in

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, Redfern began her county career with

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

in 1992, switching to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in 1997 and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

in 2003, finally retiring after the 2008 season. Her international career began in July 1995, at the age of 17, when she played

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

matches against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

.Women's ODI matches played by Sue Redfern
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 November 2015. Her

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut came later in the year, against

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 ...

.Women's ODI matches played by Sue Redfern
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 November 2015. Redfern's best performance for England came in a five-match

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) series 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 ...

in August 1997. She was named player of the series, having taken nine wickets at an average of just 10.44, including 4/21 from ten overs in the first fixture. At the 1997 World Cup in India, Redfern played in only four of her team's seven matches, taking three wickets. Her final matches for England came at the age of 21, in July 1999, when she played in a single Test and a single ODI against India.

Umpiring career

After retiring as a cricketer, Redfern took up umpiring, initially standing only in local competitions."ICC appoints four female umpires for ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier"
– International Cricket Council. Retrieved 26 November 2015. In July 2015, she was part of the umpiring team for an ODI between Australia and England (part of the 2014–16 ICC Women's Championship), serving as

fourth umpire The fourth umpire (sometimes referred to as the reserve umpire), is a cricket umpire. For all international matches a fourth umpire is required to perform duties like bringing on the new ball, carrying drinks on to the field for the umpires, check ...

. Later in the year, it was announced that she would stand at the

2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, 2016 World Twenty20, was held from 6 to 26 July 2015. The tournament was hosted by both Ireland and Scotland. 51 matches were played among 14 nations, down from 72 matches a ...

in Thailand. During the

2016 ICC World Cricket League Division Five The 2016 ICC World Cricket League Division Five was an international cricket tournament that took place in Jersey during May 2016. It formed part of the 2012–18 cycle of the World Cricket League (WCL). The Jersey Cricket Board were awarded t ...

tournament in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, she was one of the on-field umpires during the fixture between

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

on 22 May. Her colleague, Jacqueline Williams, was the third umpire, making it the first time that two female umpires had officiated in a men's match in an ICC tournament. In January 2017, she was one of four female umpires named by the ICC to stand in matches in the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 7 to 21 February 2017. It was the final stage of the qualification process for the 2017 World Cup in Engl ...

. She became the first woman to have played in a Women's Cricket World Cup and then stand in a tournament as an umpire. In October 2018, she was named as one of the twelve on-field umpires for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Indies wer ...

. In May 2019, 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 ...

named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In August 2019, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the

2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2019 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in August and September 2019 in Scotland. It was the fourth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and was the qualification tour ...

tournament in Scotland. In February 2020, the ICC named her as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup final, final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Internati ...

in Australia. In June 2021 she was fourth umpire for the first match of the three match T20I series between England and Sri Lanka men, played at Cardiff, becoming the first woman to officiate an England men's home match. In July 2021, she was an on field umpire in the inaugural game of

The Hundred (cricket) The Hundred is a professional cricket league in the United Kingdom. It is the only cricket league in the world that uses the 100-ball cricket format. It is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and played during July and Au ...

in the

Oval Invincibles Oval Invincibles is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in South London. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Surrey and Kent in the newly founded The Hundred (cricket), The Hundred competition, which t ...

Manchester Originals Manchester Originals are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Manchester. The team represents the historic county of Lancashire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, beginning in the 2021 season, and playing at Old ...

women's teams. In February 2022, she was named as one of the on-field umpires for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand. She was named in 2022 as a member of the ECB's Professional Umpires' Team, meaning that she would become the first woman to umpire in men's

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in England. In 2023 she was still the only woman to umpire in men's first-class cricket in England, receiving a significantly higher fee than when umpiring in women's cricket. She was also the only woman umpire to be a full-time employee of the ECB, paid around £40,000 annually plus match fees; all other women umpires are classed as self-employed with an annual retainer of £2,500- £4,000 and paid substantially lower match fees. In September 2023 she became the first female umpire to stand in a first-class match in England and Wales. She umpired in the match between

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

and

Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( ; ) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestig ...

. In September 2024 she was named as part of an all-female officiating group for the

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2024 Women's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup. Originally scheduled to be hosted in Bangladesh from 3 to 20 October 2024, it was later relocated to the United Arab Emirates for the same dates due to political ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redfern, Sue 1977 births Living people Cricketers from Mansfield English women cricketers England women Test cricketers England women One Day International cricketers East Midlands women cricketers Derbyshire women cricketers Staffordshire women cricketers English cricket umpires Women cricket umpires English women referees and umpires Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire