Provided the weather in Colombo on Sunday and Wednesday allows play in the second and third One Day Internationals (ODI) of the on-going Sri Lanka-India series, Ranjan Madugalle the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) chief match referee, will have overseen his 400th men’s ODI in a career in that role that commenced 30 years ago. Included in that tally are the World Cups of 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, during which he looked after three finals, the Champions Trophy of 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2013 (five finals), 59 separate bilateral series, and over a dozen tri- or quad-lateral,events.
Wednesday’s ODI will be the 4,754th played since the first in 1971. With Madugalle having played 63 ODI’s for his country from 1979-89 prior to turning to match refereeing, it means he has been directly involved in just over 10 percent of men’s games ever played in that format. As is to be expected Madugalle, 65, tops the all-time match referee ODI list, being followed by England’s Chris Broad with 361, Kiwi Jeff Crowe 329, Javagal Srinath of India 268, Zimbabwe’s Andy Pycroft 228, Madugalle’s countryman Roshan Mahanama 222, and Australian David Boon 176. Broad and Mahanama have retired from internationals, but like Madugalle, Crowe, Pycroft and Boon are still very much active at that level.
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