Sue Redfern selected as fourth umpire for England's opening T20 international against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Wednesday; Redfern: "I feel it is really important to use this as an opportunity to promote female officials and show that you can do anything you want to do in cricket"
Wednesday 23 June 2021 17:20, UK
Sue Redfern says she hopes her landmark involvement in England's T20 opener against Sri Lanka will act as inspiration to other female officials.
Redfern was selected as fourth umpire for Wednesday's Cardiff game, making her the first female to officiate in an England men's home international.
She was one of the on-field umpires for the one-off women's Test between England and India at Bristol last week, and has stood in 32 women's internationals in total, overseeing a further 12 as a TV umpire.
"I feel incredibly proud. I feel it is really important to use this as an opportunity to promote female officials and show that you can do anything you want to do in cricket, you can be anything you want to be," Redfern told Sky Sports News.
"If you have aspirations and you work hard enough, the opportunities should be there and they should exist to perform at whatever level you seek.
"It's really important at this point that we do have a number of officials in England and overseas. It's important that females can see this as an opportunity to umpire at the highest level."
Redfern represented England as a player on 21 occasions in total - six times in Tests and a further 15 in one-day internationals between 1995 and 1999.
Her appointment for the first of three T20s between England and Sri Lanka comes just a few months after Claire Polosak became the first woman to preside over a men's Test when she was fourth umpire for the game between Australia and India at Sydney in January.
Watch England's first T20 international against Sri Lanka, in Cardiff, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6pm on Wednesday.
