Kumar Dharmasena on cloud nine

Kumar Dharmasena, the Sri Lankan umpire who has been around for a while has for the 1st time won an award honouring him. The award named after veteran umpire David Shepherd, commonly known as David Shepherd Trophy was bestowed on him at the ICC Awards Ceremony in Colombo as he notched the Umpire of the year. The other nominees were Simon Taufel, Aleem Dar, Billy Bowden, Richard Kettleborough and Rodney Tucker. Among them, Simon Taufel has won five times while Aleem Dar has received it three times.

“This award means a lot to me, after playing cricket for 12 years. It’s for the Sri Lankan umpires and the community who looked after my growth,” Dharmasena said when he received the award from Graham Gooch. The award was voted by current Test captains and Elite panel of ICC match referees and it also depends on the umpires’ performance statistics.