Ian Craig (Australia’s youngest captain), Stan McCabe, Allan Border, Brett Lee etc. are few of the great Australian players produced by Sydney’s Mosman Cricket Club. The 100-year-old club has also produced two international umpires- Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel.
“Owing to a back injury while representing our club, we were sad to miss a good player like Simon Taufel. He had potential to be a good fast bowler”, the Club Secretary, Bernie Smith said from Sydney on Sunday.
“However, we are happy to see him as a champion in umpiring career. We are very proud for his contribution in the game of cricket”, he added.
Taufel did not seek to become a cricket umpire, but his good team-mate from another club, David Budge, twisted his arm to join him to attend an umpiring course with the New South Wales Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association (NSWCUSA). Taufel had some hesitation initially, but decided to join him and do the course. Interestingly, when it came to exam time, Taufel got 85% pass mark and David Budge failed it. The rest is history. Taufel won five times the ICC’s Best Umpire of the year award. “David Budge is a nomad truck driver and is a hard man to keep track of”, someone close to Taufel said from Colombo.
