Heard of Kathy Cross ~ ICC Women's World Cup 2013

Have you heard  the name of Kathy Cross earlier ?

The Women’s World Cup [ICC 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup] is underway in India and is intriguingly poised.   There is no Semi finals in the format and the top 2 teams of the Super Six qualify for the finals.  Australia are already there; WI is the next with 3 wins and a NRR of +1.136 but still technically has not qualified for the finals pending the last 3 matches.   Suzie Bates and Stafanie Taylor have scored more than 300 runs while Anya Shrubsole has taken 13 wickets followed by Katherine Brunt with 11.

Do you know or connect :  Madhav Gothoskar; Arani Jayaprakash; Swaroop Kishen; M. V. Nagendra; VK Ramaswamy; Judah Reuben; B Satyaji Rao; Mysore Vijayasarathi and Srinivas Venkataraghavan…………………. In case you are wondering! – here is more, International names this time : Ashoka De silva; Harold Bird; Billy Bowden; Steve Bucknor; Aleem Dar; Darrell Hair; Daryl Harper; Rudi Koertzen; David Shepherd; Simon Taufel ……………………..

The Gentlemen in the middle with white coats with authority to decide – the finger going up, signalling or ordering the batsmen to trudge back towards the pavilion.  For the  current ICC Women’s World Cup India 2013, there are Umpires from the elite panel and of the 12, one is very special  ~ that is Kathy Cross from New Zealand, for she is only female umpire officiating and will be alongside umpires from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires and the Associate and Affiliate Panel of ICC Umpires.    Cross  is officiating alongside Gregory Brathwaite, Vineet Kulkarni, C. Shamshuddin, Ruchira Palliyaguru, Ahsan Raza, Shaun George,  Ian Ramage, Mark Hawthorne, Shahul Hameed, Buddhi Pradhan and Sarika Prasad.

On 10th  Feb, she stood in the match between  Sri Lanka Women and  Australia Women; as also on 13th Feb in the match between WI and Australia. Thus on a field where you will have 13 women on field, you have one addition – the Umpire, if it were to be Kathy Cross in the middle.  It is nothing new for her as she has been officiating from 1998  and her sons Cameron and Stephen Cross are playing for Naenae Cricket club. 

The best way to watch the game is from close quarters and none can get any further closer than the Umpires to watch the game.  Cross has the opportunity of being there in the male bastion; a place dominated by Gentlemen.  Her ultimate aim is to stand in a first-class game in New Zealand but at 55, time is running out to achieve that.

She might be thinking against the fortunes of the country, for if New Zealand do not make it to the finals, she will perhaps get a chance to officiate in the Finals of a World Cup, a great opportunity at that.  The umpires of the ICC WC 2013 are being  monitored by ICC umpire manager Simon Taufel and former top New Zealand umpire Tony Hill. Some reports suggest that legendary Indian leg spinner Anil Kimble  is also  working with the umpires.

Have you heard  the name of Kathy Cross earlier ?

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

12th Feb 2013