Simon Taufel

Simon James Arthur Taufel or Simon Taufel was born on 21 January 1971 in St Leonards, New South Wales. Before starting his umpiring journey, Taufel played as a fast medium bowler for Cammeray Cricket Club in the Northern Suburbs Cricket Association. After the 1990 91 season, he won the clubs best and fairest player award, as he was the leading wicket taker and had the lowest bowling average in the association. His bowling career was cut short by a back injury. Taufel made his international debut in the year 1999 in an ODI between Australia and Sri Lanka. He then went on to make his test debut in the year 2000 between Australia and West Indies. People started considering him as one of the best umpires of all time after he was bestowed upon with five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year Awards between 2004 and 2008. Taufel has umpired in 74 tests, 174 ODIs and 34 T20s. After the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final, he announced his retirement from international cricket and took the role as an Umpire Performance and Training Manager.