Polosak, 32, is the reserve umpire at the third Test between Australia and India at the SCG; travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in an exclusively Australian umpiring team for the four-match India series
Thursday 7 January 2021 07:33, UK
After 144 years of Test-match cricket, Australian Claire Polosak has become the first woman to officiate in the men's game as she took her role as fourth umpire for the match between Australia and India.
Polosak, 32, was already the first woman to officiate on-field in a men's One-Day International when Namibia hosted Oman at Windhoek in April 2019.
She was also the first woman umpire to stand in an Australian men's domestic fixture after officiating a one-day match between New South Wales and a Cricket Australia XI in 2017.
Travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in an exclusively Australian umpiring team for the four-match India series.
The fourth umpire at a test match has duties related to pitch preparation, equipment changes and support for the on-field umpires.
There was another first on the opening morning of the third test when the new edition of the Australian national anthem was sung before the start of play.
The country's government last week changed the words of the second line of Advance Australia Fair from "for we are young and free" to "for we are one and free" in recognition of the indigenous population's more than 50,000 years of history.
