Daryl John Harper, (born 23 October 1951) is an Australian

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French ''nompere'' meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket ...

, who was a Test umpire between 1998 and 2011. He was a member of the

Elite Panel of ICC Umpires The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the International Cricket Council to officiate in Test matches and One Day Internationals around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC dec ...

from 2002 until 2011 when the ICC announced that Harper was being stood down at the termination of his contract in July 2011. In June 2011, following criticism from India during the India-West Indies Test series Harper retired from umpiring.

Biography

Harper was born in the Adelaide suburb of Mile End in 1951 and attended Norwood High School before taking up primary school teaching. He had a brief career as an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

before injury forced him to quit.

Playing career

Harper played as a right-handed batsman in Adelaide grade cricket competition for the

Teachers' College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

and East Torrens clubs.

Umpiring

In 1983 he switched to umpiring, making his first-class cricket debut in 1987. Harper made his first appearance in an international fixture in January 1994 when he umpired a One Day International ( ODI) in Perth between New Zealand and South Africa. In November 1998 Harper made his test match debut when appointed to stand in the 2nd

Ashes Ashes may refer to: * Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...

test at the

WACA ground The WACA (formally the WACA Ground) is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association. The WACA has been referred to as Wester ...

alongside umpire Venkat; Harper also stood at the MCG in the 4th test of that series. After promotion to the National Grid Panel of International Umpires, Harper also began to appear in Test matches away from Australia as the designated independent umpire. In 2002 the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

( ICC) introduced a policy of two independent umpires standing in each Test match, and one independent & one home umpire in ODIs. The independent umpires would be chosen from a newly conceived

ICC Elite umpire panel The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the International Cricket Council to officiate in Test matches and One Day Internationals around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC dec ...

comprising the ICC's determination of the top 8 - 10 umpires from around the world. Harper was included in the original line up for this panel, at the time chosen over fellow Australians

Simon Taufel Simon James Arthur Taufel (born 21 January 1971) is a former Australian cricket umpire who was earlier a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008, and was generally cons ...

and

Darrell Hair Darrell Bruce Hair (born 30 September 1952) is an Australian former Test match cricket umpire, from New South Wales. He stood on the International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before he, along with fellow Australian Simon Taufel, and Ne ...

(both of whom subsequently joined the panel in 2003). Harper umpired the opening match of the 2003

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

in South Africa, and went on to stand in one of the semi-finals. On 31 August 2005 he adjudicated in his 100th ODI, a match between Zimbabwe and New Zealand at Harare. He was the third umpire for a trial of the 'player referral' system in 2009. In 2010, England lodged a formal complaint against Harper after a referred caught behind decision was turned down because the volume supplied by the home broadcaster was not good enough to detect the edge. The ICC dropped Harper from the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fi ...

due to "general performance reasons" and demoted him from the Elite Panel in May 2011. The ICC subsequently revealed that Harper would stand in two last Test matches; between West Indies and India at

Sabina Park Sabina Park is a cricket ground and the home of the Kingston Cricket Club, and is the only Test cricket ground in Kingston, Jamaica. History Sabina Park was originally a Pen (urban residence and adjoining land of a wealthy merchant, shopkee ...

and

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual ren ...

. Harper retired from umpiring following some heavy criticism from India during the first test against the West Indies. Dave Richardson, the ICC Cricket manager, said Harper received "unfair criticism" from the Indian players and that his correct decision making percentage against India was at 96 percent, which was "considerably above average".

International Umpiring statistics

As of 4 June 2010: ;Awards * ICC

Bronze Bails Award In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French ''nompere'' meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket ...

for 100 ODIs. ;Ambassadorship * In March 2009, Daryl Harper, was announced as an ambassador for Orana, an

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

company providing employment for people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

. * He is an ambassador for The Adelaide Crows.

References

External links