Australian cricketer and umpire
Paul Ronald Reiffel
(born 19 April 1966) is an Australian former
cricketer
who played in 35
Tests
and 92
One Day Internationals
(ODIs) from 1992 to 1999.
[1]
He was part of Australia's victorious
1999 World Cup
team. After retirement he became a
first-class cricket
umpire
.
[2]
He is currently a member of the
Elite Panel of ICC Umpires
.
Playing career
[
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]
Reiffel's career best bowling figures of 6/71 came at
Edgbaston
in 1993. Throughout his career he took 104 wickets at 26.96 in 35 Tests, taking 5 or more
wickets
in an innings five times. An accurate bowler whose main attacking weapon was
seam bowling
,
[1]
Reiffel was a more than handy batsman. While limited in his shotmaking ability, he had a solid defence. Two notable achievements in his Australian playing career were being members of the winning
1999 Cricket World Cup
ODI team and the test side that defeated the West Indies during the 1994/95
Frank Worrell Trophy
series.
[3]
Reiffel was a
Victorian
cricket captain who was notorious for declaring a Victorian innings closed in 2001 with
Michael Klinger
on 99 not out.
[4]
Umpiring career
[
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]
Reiffel made his first class umpiring debut in the 2004/2005 season after first umpiring in Melbourne grade cricket in 2002. Reiffel joined the
Cricket Australia
National Umpire's Panel in the 2005/2006 season.
[5]
[6]
In 2008, he became a member of the
International Cricket Council
International Panel of ICC Umpires
,
[7]
the first former Australian Test cricketer to do so.
[8]
He made his international on-field umpiring debut in a
One Day International
match between Australia and New Zealand on 6 February 2009.
[9]
He also umpired in both Tests of the West Indies-New Zealand Test Series in July?August 2012.
In June 2013, Reiffel was elevated to the
Elite Panel of ICC Umpires
. He was selected as one of the twenty umpires to stand in matches during the
2015 Cricket World Cup
.
[10]
On the first day of the
fourth Test between India and England
at the
Wankhede Stadium
in Mumbai, Reiffel was hit on the head by a throw from fielder
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
. He left the field and underwent precautionary tests, which showed that he had not suffered any major injuries. The
International Cricket Council
, however, decided against Reiffel taking any further part in the match. He was replaced by
Marais Erasmus
who was originally the
third umpire
.
[11]
In April 2019, he was named as one of the sixteen umpires to stand in matches during the
2019 Cricket World Cup
.
[12]
[13]
In September 2023, he was named as one of the sixteen match officials for
2023 Cricket World Cup
.
[14]
[15]
Family
[
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]
Reiffel's father,
Ron Reiffel
, played for the
Richmond Football Club
. His grandfather,
Lou Reiffel
, was also an
Australian rules footballer
and played for both
Melbourne
and
South Melbourne
.
[16]
Following the death of his father in December 2018, Reiffel pulled out of officiating during
Sri Lanka's tour of New Zealand
the following month.
See also
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]
References
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]