West Indies official Billy Doctrove has retired from umpiring after a 14-year international career, cricket’s world governing body said on Thursday.
Doctrove, 56, declined to seek an extension to his annual contract which was due to expire at the end of June, the International Cricket Council said in a statement.
The ICC did not specify any reason for Doctrove’s decision.
Doctrove was due to umpire in the upcoming one-day and Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but withdrew from what would have been his last assignment due to a family bereavement.
Doctrove, who umpired his first international game in 1998, stood in 38 Tests, 112 one-dayers and 17 Twenty20 internationals, including the final of the 2010 World Twenty20 between England and Australia in Barbados.
“To umpire in the ICC World Twenty20 final in Barbados was a special and an unforgettable occasion,” the Dominica resident was quoted as saying in the ICC release.
“It has been an incredible 14 years for me as an international umpire and I have enjoyed every moment of it.”
The ICC’s umpires manager, Vince Van Der Bijl, said Doctrove had been an “excellent servant of the game”.
“To have remained as one of the game’s top officials for so many years has required Billy to be self-motivated, confident and well-respected,” Bijl said.
“Billy is a very special man, with strong values, firm beliefs yet with an underlying gentleness and humour, and a great family man — a wonderful blend.”
