Lauren Agenbag (born 16 August 1996) is a South African

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 ...

. Since February 2019, she has set several firsts in regards to women's umpiring in international and domestic cricket matches.

Career

On 1 February 2019, she stood in the opening

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

(WT20I) match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at

Newlands Cricket Ground Newlands Cricket Ground (known as Six Gun Grill Newlands for sponsorship reasons) in Cape Town is a South African cricket ground. It is the home of the Cape Cobras, who play in the Sunfoil Series, Momentum 1 Day Cup and RamSlam Pro20 compet ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. In doing so, she became the first South African woman to umpire a T20I match. 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 List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

(ICC) does not have official records, but at the age of 22 years, she is also believed to be the youngest person to umpire in an international cricket fixture, since

George Coulthard George Coulthard (1 August 1856 – 22 October 1883) was an Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer. Born and raised on a farm outside Melbourne, Victoria, Coulthard helped lead the Carlton Football Club to premiership success in t ...

did so in Australia in January 1879.

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

's Chief Executive, Thabang Moroe, praised Agenbag, saying "this is a very significant moment for umpiring in South Africa".

Dane van Niekerk Dané van Niekerk ( , ; born 14 May 1993) is a South African cricketer born in Pretoria and educated at Hoërskool Centurion. leg spin bowler, she has appearances in Test, One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) representi ...

, captain of South Africa's women's team also praised Agenbag, saying "she held her own and it's awesome to a see a woman out there doing really well". In May 2019, she was one of the on-field umpires for the final of the

2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Africa The 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Africa was a cricket tournament that was held in Zimbabwe in May 2019. The matches in the tournament were played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing to both the 2019 ICC Women ...

tournament, between

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The same month, the ICC named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In August 2019, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland. In September 2019, Cricket South Africa appointed her to their Reserve List Umpires Panel for the 2019–20 cricket season. On 13 September 2019, Agenbag became the first woman to umpire in a senior men's provincial match, when she was one of the on-field umpires in the match between Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal Inland in the

2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup The 2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup was a domestic Twenty cricket tournament that took place in South Africa in September 2019, as a curtain-raiser to the 2019–20 South African domestic season. It was played between the thirteen South Africa ...

. On 17 October 2019, in the match between

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

and Boland in the

2019–20 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup The 2019–20 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from October 2019 to April 2020. On 16 March 2020, Cricket South Africa suspended all cricket in the country for 60 days due to the COVI ...

, Agenbag became the first woman to stand as an on-field umpire in a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

match in South Africa. In February 2020, the ICC named her as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. In January 2021, Agenbag umpired in her first

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(WODI) matches, in all three fixtures between South Africa and Pakistan at the

Kingsmead Cricket Ground Kingsmead is a cricket ground in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its stated capacity is 25,000, although grass terracing makes up part of the viewing area. The 'end names' are the Umgeni End (north) and the Old Fort Road End (south). It is t ...

. In February 2022, she was named as one of the on-field umpires for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. On 1 April 2022, the ICC named Agenbag as one of the on-field umpires for the final of the tournament, and became the youngest umpire to officiate in a Cricket World Cup final.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agenbag, Lauren 1996 births Living people South African cricket umpires People from Centurion, Gauteng Sportspeople from Gauteng Women cricket umpires