NZ vs SL: New Zealand’s Kim Cotton becomes first female umpire to officiate in full-member men’s T20I

New Zealand’s Kim Cotton has scripted history by becoming the first female to stand as an on-field umpire in a men’s T20I between two full-time Test-playing nations. She achieved the feat after officiating the 2nd T20I between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, held on April 5 at Dunedin’s University Oval.

She shared the on-field umpiring duties for the second T20I with compatriot Wayne Knights.

However, this isn’t the first time that Cotton has officiated a men’s game. She had earlier donned the third umpire’s hat in 2020, during the tied contest between India and New Zealand held in Hamilton.

Cotton had earlier also grabbed the record for being the first-ever female to officiate a World Cup final when she took the field for the 2020 ICC World T20 Final between Australia and India, held at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Moreover, she has been a part of three Women’s T20 World Cup and one Women’s ODI World Cup and also had the honour of officiating three World Cup finals in 2020, 2022 and the recently concluded 2023 T20 World Cup.

Overall, Cotton has officiated in 54 women’s T20Is and 24 women’s ODIs since 2018.

Earlier, Australia’s Claire Polosak had become the first female ever to be included in the team of match officials for a men’s game after being named the fourth umpire for the Sydney Test of the 2021-22 Border-Gavaskar trophy.