DUBAI, Sept 11: Australia’s Simon Taufel was named as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Umpire of the Year for the fifth year in a row on Wednesday.

The award confirmed Taufel’s standing as the best umpire on the ICC’s Elite Panel with the 37-year-old receiving his votes from captains of cricket’s leading 10, full member, nations and the eight-man ICC Elite Panel of match referees.

However, critics of world umpiring standards are likely to point to Taufel’s domination of the award as evidence to back up their claims of a significant gap in class between the man at the top and his fellow officials.

Taufel, significantly younger than many of his colleagues on the elite list, began his first-class umpiring career while still in his 20s, an early age to be standing in senior matches.

Unfortunately for him, his international career has coincided with Australia’s domination of the world game and a change in policy which means umpires now no longer stand in Tests in which their country is playing.

As a result Taufel, who joined the Elite Panel in 2003, missed out on standing in last year’s World Cup final, where Australia beat Sri Lanka in Barbados, even though he was arguably the best umpire available.

It was a point the former club cricketer alluded to when he received his award in Dubai, where the ICC is now based, saying: “I’m delighted to win this award but I don’t set this as a goal at the start of a season.

“My goals are to be selected for finals and for major championships like the Champions Trophy or World Twenty20. If Ricky (Ponting, the Australia captain) and the boys slip up, eventually I might get the chance to do a final.—AFP