Marais Erasmus will umpire in the Cricket World Cup final. Photo: Andrew Boyers/Reuters

JOHANNESBURG – Cricket SA congratulated its senior umpire, Marais Erasmus, on his appointment as one of the on-field match officials for the final of the Cricket World Cup at Lord’s in London on Sunday.

Hosts England will take on New Zealand in the title-decider.

“This is another feather in the cap of Marais’ extremely distinguished career,” said CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe.

“The CSA family is extremely proud of him. He has been an outstanding ambassador of the CSA brand throughout the nine years he has served on the ICC Elite Panel of umpires.

“The respect he enjoys from players, fellow umpires and administrators is reflected in his achievement of being awarded the David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year both in 2016 and 2017 and by the fact that he has been a match official on a regular basis in major ICC Finals since the 2015 ICC World Cup Final when he was the television match official.

He filled the same role at the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 and was one of the on-field umpires at the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Tournament.

“He remains an inspiration and a role model not only to our own umpires but to umpires around the world. In the words of TV commentator and former England captain Nasser Hussain during Thursday’s semi-final between England and Australia ‘he is the No. 1 umpire in the world in many areas of the game’.

“We wish him everything of the best on this great day in his career and know that he will do us proud.”

This will be Marais’ 89th ODI as an on-field official and his 170th  appointment to an international match across the three formats. He has also stood in 55 Test matches and 26 T20 Internationals.

African News Agency (ANA)