Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden was born on 11 April 1963, is an international cricket umpire from New Zealand. He was a player until he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and took up umpiring. He is well known for his dramatic signalling style which includes "crooked finger of doom" out signal. In March 1995 Bowden officiated his first One Day International between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hamilton. In March 2000 he was appointed his first Test match as an on-field umpire, and in 2002 he was included in the Emirates Panel of International Umpires. A year later he was asked to umpire at the Cricket World Cup in South Africa, and was chosen to be the fourth umpire in the final between Australia and India. Shortly after this he was duly promoted to the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, of which he is still a member. He umpired 65 Tests (2000–present), 152 ODIs (1995–present) and 19 T20s (2005–present) upto 4 March 2011.Because of his arthritis, it was too painful for Bowden to signal a batsman out in the conventional fashion, with a straight index finger raised above the head, and this led to the "crooked finger of doom". He has also put his own slant on several other signals, including a "crumb-sweeping" wave of the arm to signal four, and the "double crooked finger six-phase hop" to signal a six. His signals are sedate in Tests, more flashy in ODIs and decidedly flamboyant in Twenty20.He has been awarded with ICC Bronze Bails Award for 100 ODIs.
Picture of Billy Bowden signalling six
Image of Billy Bowden
Another interesting style of Billy Bowden with Steve Bucknor
Billy Bowden checking light
Billy Bowden signalling six
No comments:
Post a Comment