Several inconsistent decisions in the opening matches of the 2025 Women's World Cup have pulled focus onto the tournament's umpiring panel, which was hailed by the ICC before the tournament as a "major milestone" for the women's game.
Two decisions following England's hard-fought win over Bangladesh yesterday (October 7) dominated the post-game narrative. After England's top order collapsed in a sub-200 chase, Heather Knight was recalled three times in the first 15 overs of the innings. The most contentious of these was a disputed catch, which Shorna Akter claimed low to the ground at cover. The on-field umpires referred the decision upstairs, with TV umpire Gayathri Venugopalan stating: "It's inconclusive to say the fingers were completely underneath," and giving her verdict as not out.
Having gone on to score a match-winning unbeaten 79, Knight was asked about the decision in her Player of the Match interview. "At first look, I thought it was out," she said. "I thought it carried and thought it was a fair catch and walked off. But the TV umpire decided otherwise. I certainly had a bit of luck today."
Another problematic decision came earlier in Knight's innings. While the ICC's DRS regulations for umpire reviews of caught decisions leave the TV umpire in control, with soft signal rules scrapped in 2023, that's not the case for player reviews.
Knight was given out caught-behind earlier in her innings, but reviewed the decision immediately. Venugopalan justified her decision to overturn the decision by saying; "there is nothing conclusive to show that it hit the bat". In the ICC playing conditions, if the replays are "inconclusive" then the on-field decision must stand. Thus, based on Venugopalan's assessment that the replays showed "nothing conclusive", the decision should have stayed that Knight was out.
Those incidents followed a controversial stumping referral in the South Africa-New Zealand clash the day before. Following a referral which saw Tazmin Brits given not out, New Zealand essentially re-referred the review to be checked again.
Umpires are human, and get decisions wrong, that's why technology was introduced in the first place. However, beyond unhelpful pillarising of individual umpires, there should instead be focus on the ICC for fast-tracking several officials onto the biggest stage in the women's game.
Weeks before the start of the World Cup, the ICC announced an all-female panel for the tournament. It was described as the first time in the history of the tournament that it would be officiated entirely by women. While it is the first time an ICC Women's 50-over World Cup has featured an all-female panel, the first World Cup in 1973 also featured an all-female panel. The ICC's announcement included a quote from Jay Shah, part of which labelled the panel as "a powerful reflection of the ICC’s unwavering commitment to advancing gender equity across cricket".
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A brief look at the ICC's roster of umpires shows a passing commitment at best to advancing gender equality. There are no women on the ICC's elite panels of match referees or umpires, while one female umpire features on the 43-member development panel.
Of the 14 umpires officiating at the World Cup, eight are part of the ICC's Emerging Umpire Group, which consists of individuals who have shown themselves as the most deserving of 'stretch opportunities', in which to test themselves at higher levels. At the 2023 men's World Cup, only four of the 16 umpires were drawn from that Emerging Group, with the rest coming from the Elite Panel. Given that there are no women on the elite panel, blocking off the best of the best and the most experienced was the only way the ICC could achieve an all-female panel.
Several of the umpires at the World Cup are vastly experienced. Sue Redfern, Claire Polosak and Jacquline Williams are all officiating in their third World Cup, and are well known and respected figures in the game. However, others bring less experience. Venugopalan had only been a TV umpire in two ODIs before England's game against Bangladesh, while others have been officiating in women's ODIs for less than a year. While umpires must be given 'stretch opportunities', there has to be a balance struck between showing faith in those who have shone at lower levels and ensuring the status of the competition is reflected in those officiating it.
Pressures on umpires are enormous. They stand alone at either end, asked to make split second decisions with huge ramifications while players scream at them. With technology, those decisions are instantly held to account and, for women, the stakes are often higher than their male counterparts. Redfern, one of the most experience female umpires in the world, was the victim of misogynistic social media abuse follow a decision she made on men's T20 Blast finals day this year.
An all-female panel in a World Cup is an admirable mission, but ensuring female umpires are represented at every level of the ICC officials roster is a greater one. Making sure those foundations are well and truly established would mean an all-female umpiring panel is truly something to celebrate, rather than being more lip-service paid to gender equality.
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