Former South African cricket umpire Rudi Koertzen, labeled the ‘slow finger of death’, has died in a car accident aged 73.
“Rudi suffered fatal injuries after an accident near Stilbaai between Cape Town and Gqeberha,” said a family spokesman.
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“My father went to a golf tournament with some friends and they were expected to come back on Monday, but it seems they decided to play another round of golf,” his son Rudi told a Gqeberha radio station.
The South African team will wear black armbands on Wednesday in honor of Koertzen when they face England at Lord’s in London in a Test match.
Koertzen first umpired in 1981, handled his maiden international assignment 11 years later, and retired in 2010 after a Test between Australia and Pakistan in Leeds, England.
He became known as the ‘slow finger of death’ because he very slowly raising his finger whenever indicating a batsman was out.
His death rocked the cricket world.
Umpire and long-time colleague Aleem Dar paid tribute to Koertzen: “It is a very big loss forever for his family and then for South Africa and cricket. I stood in so many games with him. He was not only very good as an umpire but also an excellent colleague, always very cooperative on the field and also always willing to help off the field. Because of the way he was, he was also well respected by the players.”
Australian great Jason Gillespie wrote: “RIP Rudy- very good umpire, nice man. Thoughts are with his family and friends of him. ”
Indian star Virender Sehwag wrote: “Ok Rudi Koertzen! Om Shanti. Condolences to his family from him. Had a great relationship with him. Whenever I used to play a rash shot, he used to scold me saying, “Play sensibly, I want to watch your batting.”
“Every umpire has their trademark and that was mine. The media labeled it the ‘slow finger of death’ and I found that pretty interesting. There is a story behind it,” Koertzen said in an interview.
“When my umpiring career first began, I used to hold my hands in front of me and every time there was an appeal, I would fold them against my ribs.
“The someone told me ‘Rudi, you cannot do that. Every time you raise your hands to fold them, the bowler thinks you are going to give him a wicket’.
“So I started clasping my wrists at the back. The finger comes out slowly because it takes time for me to release my grasp at the back.”
Just weeks after Mike Atherton delivered the ICC an ominous warning of the very real threat of franchise cricket taking credence over the international game, an IPL boss has confirmed the desire to contract players across the world to 12-month deals.
“In an ideal world, sure – because that gives us the opportunity to make our vision and our strategy even stronger,” Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore told The Telegraph.
“If we were able to have X number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana. Hopefully, someday it will happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.”
The report comes as former Australian captain Adam Gilchrist said it would be “commercial suicide” for Cricket Australia to allow David Warner to skip the Big Bash and play in a rival T20 league elsewhere in the world.
Australia’s David Warner is considering his future in short-form cricket. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
It also comes just weeks after the Proteas withdrew from their ODI series in Australia next January, with South Africa forfeiting their World Cup qualification points so they can have their international players at home for the launch of their new T20 competition.
While Gilchrist could understand Warner, who is in the twilight of his “great career”, wanting to play overseas to top up his bank balance, he said it would set a dangerous precedent for emerging players.
“This is the big kicker, isn’t it, of possibly being the step towards being contracted to the club before or over country for the predominant amount of cricket you play,” Gilchrist told SEN last week.
“I think it would almost be commercial suicide for them (CA) to allow a player like him (Warner) to go head-to-head up against their own competition.
“It’s the new younger player coming in that starts to make those noises where it’ll be really challenging.
“Perhaps it’s the first example where David Warner doesn’t sign a contract with Cricket Australia at all, he just plays for a match fee.
“He goes and plays wherever he wants but says, ‘I’m available for every Test match, for every one-day international and every T20 international’ by way of example, I’ll be there for you in national colours.
“But other than that, I’m going to play my club, my franchise cricket, wherever I want to, knowing that none of those big tournaments will be clashing with international cricket.”
Kolkata Knight Riders’ cricketer Andre Russell is one of a number of players who have become T20 specialists. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
Gilchrist’s comments came a fortnight after Atherton honed in on South Africa’s decision to walk away from their ODI series against Australia and, ultimately, predicted franchise cricket would increasingly fill players’ pockets and see them contracted by cashed-up owners instead of their countries.
“A franchise-dominated landscape, with yearly ICC tournaments and not much bilateral international cricket or Tests, is coming, though,” Atherton, the former England captain, wrote in The Times.
“All this is good news for the players’ bank accounts, mainly, but it will be a very different landscape, with players eventually contracted to private companies who will acquire franchises across the globe.
“I found myself chatting to a player’s agent this week in Birmingham along these lines. England, he said, will be the last man standing where Test cricket is concerned. June and July stand out as the only months without T20 competition when Test cricket can flourish.”
The Telegraph’s report confirms what many respected figures within the game have feared, with the privatization of the game, particularly at franchise level, now starting to take full effect.
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Twelve-month deals would likely have a seismic impact on the international game, enabling franchises to sign players on lucrative year-round deals and, as a result, throw into jeopardy a player’s international availability.
It could also have a destabilizing impact at a domestic level, with the next tier of players unable to improve and test their skills against international players, should they be overseas.
AceThe Telegraph highlighted, The Knight Riders now have four teams under their umbrella – their flagship IPL franchise, the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, plus sides in the International League T20 (UAE) and Major League Cricket (US), which both launch next year.
Other IPL teams are buying teams in other leagues – all six franchises in South Africa’s new T20 league, which launches in January – as international cricket faces heightened pressure to compete.
One obstacle currently standing in the way of the IPL’s desire to globalize the game is the varied recruitment rules used across different T20 leagues.
Currently, for instance, India’s stars aren’t allowed to play in overseas T20 leagues while only four international players are allowed in an XI in the IPL.
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Mysore is hopeful those barriers will be broken down eventually and says England’s The Hundred and Australia’s Big Bash competitions are the next hunting grounds for IPL owners.
“If it happened that way, at some point in the future, that’d be great,” Mysore told The Telegraph.
“What we want to create is a common platform and a system and a culture that allows us to participate around the year – enhancing our brand, building our fan base, and providing opportunities to cricketers around the world. And in the process, you hopefully build a successful business around it.”
He added: “Our immediate reaction to any such proposal is to say, yeah, we are absolutely interested because this is part of our strategy. Whether it is the Big Bash or the Hundred, although we understand the challenges these leagues face in inviting private investments.
“Wherever we have gone, we’ve made it successful for the mutual benefit of the league as well as the Knight Riders. When a proposal comes to us it’s because they understand the value that the Knight Riders brand brings with it and the entire package that comes with it – we know how to build those brands.”
Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins has tied the knot with Becky Boston in front of a star-studded crowd in Byron Bay.
The couple walked down the aisle on Friday afternoon, but only shared the news with the world on social media on Monday evening.
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Cummins, 29, and Boston, 31, held their glamorous reception at the Chatuea Du Soleil in Byron Bay.
The couple uploaded the same image to their social media accounts on Monday, showing them holding hands in a garden surrounded by white flowers.
A host of big names were in attendance at the ceremony with Andy Lee and his girlfriend Bec Harding.
Fellow cricket stars Travis Head, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon were also among the guests.
The news comes hot on the heels of Ash Barty marrying her long-term partner.
Cummins proposed to Boston back in 2020 after a banner 12 months which he capped off by dropping down to one knee.
Boston posted a photograph of the two having a picnic in a picturesque farm setting with the caption: “My forever person. I am the happiest girl in the world right now.”
Cummins also shared the news on social media and was widely congratulated by the cricket world.
“Big boy. Took you long enough haha congrats guys!” wrote Peter Siddle.
“Congratulations guys. A champagne to settle the nerves,” added Mitchell Johnson.
Cummins went public with the Brit-born interior designer back in 2014 and she is regularly seen on his arm at red carpet events and cheering from the stands.
The couple welcomed their first child, Albie, in 2021.
