Our fascination in cricket revolves around the players and the coaches who play the most imperative role in our narrative of our favourite teams defying the odds under challenging circumstances. However, we tend to omit those officials who ensure the slickest flow of the game with their managerial and arbitrational capabilities.
We are talking about the umpires here. It is quite obvious that without his or her profit in the game, one human being isn’t crazy enough to stand there in the middle supervising the game with top-notch alert right from the first to the last ball being bowled. He also steps up in case of any verbal or physical altercation to ensure that the heated exchange doesn’t spiral out of control and dents the gentry of the game.
We will look at five umpires who receive the highest payments in the international roster. This includes their part in all the games and also features the endorsements which they indulge themselves in.
- Bruce Oxenford
Australia umpire, Bruce Oxenford is currently leading the charge to ensure that all the umpires out in the middle resorts to adequate safety gear as cricket has changed into a whole new ball-game in the 21st century. He has been an ardent sport in donning on those sporting gears in any game that he has supervised. His annual income is close to Rs 30,21,750. He started his career in 2001 and continues t be one of the most effective umpires in the international circuit.
- Paul Reiffel
After considerable success in the first-class career with 500 wickets to his name, he landed himself a national call-up. Despite failing to live up to his billing, Paul Reiffel made himself a good deal of name for the cricket canon to know him.
As he hung up his boots, he turned his attention towards the art of umpiring, and given his quick-learning dexterity, he was promoted to the elite panel of ICC umpires in a very short span of time. His umpiring stint was equally a no-nonsense spell like that of being a cricketer.
Coming to his earnings, he earns $3000 for each Test Match while $1000 for a T-20I game and $2200 for one ODI match. His total earning around the year is close to $45,000 which is equivalent to Rs 33,62,850.
- Nigel Llong
Llong relished a meteoric rise through the ranks of cricket as a player and his jump in the circuit as a manager was equally impressive. He joined the English first-class panel in 2002. By 2004, he was officiating as the third official in internationals and in 2005 he stood in the first T20I in England. In 2006, he made it to the ECB’s list of English internationals.
Though an exact figure couldn’t be obtained, Llong is in the third position of this list, given his higher number of appearances as an umpire and also a few domestic endorsements.
- Billy Bowden
One of the most animated personalities of international cricket, New Zealand umpire, Billy Bowden suffered Rheumatoid Arthritis which snuffed out his fast bowling career. Given his admiration and love for the sport, Bowden took up umpiring to stay connected. The pain caused by arthritis was so severe that he couldn’t lift his finger over his head. This is what gave birth to the “crooked finger of doom” which is now renowned across the world for Bowden’s style of giving out.
Talking about his earnings, Bowden earns $3000 for each test, $1000 for a T20I game while $2200 for an ODI game. His annual earning is close to $45,000.
- Aleem Dar
One of the best umpires in international cricket at the moment, also known for his smiles, aces the list with the same amount of earnings in an individual match like the others in the list but surpasses everyone given his higher number of appearances.
He and Simon Taufel are the faces of the youth revolution that focuses on bring the young cricket enthusiasts to the art of arbitrating.