Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar on Thursday equalled Jamaica’s Steve Bucknor’s record of officiating in the highest number Test matches after taking the field for the 128th time during the second Ashes Test between England and Australia at Lord’s.
“It’s a great honour to equal the number of Test matches of my role model, umpire Steve Bucknor,” Dar, 51, was quoted as saying by the International Cricket Council in a tweet.
“Aleem Dar is standing in his 128th Test today – equaling Steve Bucknor’s record!” wrote ICC while sharing Dar’s statement on the microblogging website.
Aleem Dar is standing in his 128th Test today – equaling Steve Bucknor’s record!#Ashes pic.twitter.com/VeL5ttuiue
— ICC (@ICC) August 15, 2019
Dar made his Test debut in a match between Bangladesh and England in Dhaka in October 2003. He has since then taken charge of 376 matches across all formats.
Besides Dar and Bucknor, South Africa’s Rudi Koertzen is the only other umpire to have reached the three-figure mark in Tests, having stood in 108 Tests before calling it a day in 2010.
Talking about the match, Rory Burns (53) and Jonny Bairstow (52) scored half-centuries as England got all out for 258. Batting second, the Aussies were 30 for 1 after the end of Day 2.