OTD | Former England cricketer turned umpire Ian Gould was born in 1957

There is no doubt that the game of cricket is built on players, but we cannot forget the people who make sure that the rules and regulations are being followed as well. The men responsible for that are the umpires who have to make some of the toughest decisions on the field along with making sure that a fair game is on display as well. These men should be appreciated since they have to do their job right in the middle of the action.

There have been plenty of great umpires known for making some of the best decisions and one of those umpires is Ian Gould. The Englishman is considered one of the best on-field umpires and has been a part of over 250 international matches. Gould has made a major contribution to the game until his retirement in 2019 and the day of 19th August is the perfect day to celebrate him since it is the day the world was introduced to the great umpire.

A great bounceback from a failed international career

To people who might not know this Ian Gould had started his career as a left-handed wicket keeper batter and has some decent numbers in First class and List A cricket. This was also enough to get his England career started as well. Unfortunately, his time in international cricket could not survive that long and he eventually only played 18 ODI games for his nation. This might have not been the way he wanted his career to pan out, but it turns out something great was waiting for him in 2006.

Gould had already started his umpiring career in first-class cricket and going forward he was to be one of the biggest umpires in international cricket. Gould went on to officiate 74 Tests 141 ODI and 37 T20Is. He was also one of the main umpires in major ICC tournaments as well and was considered one of the best umpires as well. It is safe to say that cricket eventually made a career for Gould in the end.

Read More: Former New Zealand umpire David Quested passes away at 78