Umpire Doctrove calls time on career

Saturday, 9 June 2012 00:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

DUBAI, (Reuters): Umpire Billy Doctrove, who along with Australian Darrell Hair was at the centre of the controversial Oval test which Pakistan forfeited against England in 2006, has announced his retirement.

The West Indian was due to umpire Thursday’s one-dayer between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Pallekele but withdrew because of a family bereavement and will not be extending his ICC contract when it expires this month, the International Cricket Council said in a statement.

Doctrove, 56, and Hair penalised Pakistan for alleged ball-tampering in August 2006, a decision which led to the visiting team’s refusal to play on.

It was Doctrove’s ninth test as an on-field umpire but while Hair officiated in just two more tests after the incident, the West Indian went on to stand in a total of 38 tests, 117 one-day internationals and 17 Twenty20s.

He umpired the final of the World Twenty20 in Barbados in 2010 when England beat Australia.

Doctrove’s international career began in 1998 and his final match in the middle was the second test between New Zealand and South Africa in Hamilton in March.

The players’ pavilion at Windsor Park in Roseau on his home island of Dominica was named after Doctrove in 2010.

“It has been an incredible 14 years for me as an international umpire and I have enjoyed every moment of it,” he said.

ICC umpires and referees manager Vince Van Der Bijl added, “Billy has been an excellent servant of the game and we thank him on behalf of the entire cricket fraternity for his outstanding contribution.”