South Africa's Marais Erasmus on Monday has been adjudged as the ICC Umpire of the Year for 2021. It is the third time Erasmus is winning the David Shepherd Trophy after winning it previously in 2016 and 2017.
In the recent ODI series between South Africa and India, Erasmus had become only the third South African umpire to stand in 100 ODI matches, following the footsteps of Rudi Koertzen and David Orchard and 18th in the world to officiate in 100 ODIs.
Erasmus has been officiating at the highest level in cricket since 2007 and has also been the man in the middle for 70 Tests, 35 men's T20Is and 18 women's T20Is.
In 2021, Erasmus stood in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand in Dubai, leading the way in his officiating duties, earning the respect of his peers and the international cricket fraternity. Apart from the T20 World Cup final, Erasmus has overseen 20 international fixtures across the three formats in 2021.
Monday also marks the last day of announcement in the ICC awards. Categories of which the winners will be announced later in the day are Men's Cricketer of the Year, Women's Cricketer of the Year, Men's Test Cricketer of the Year, Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year, Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year and Spirit of Cricket Award.
On Sunday, Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan and England's Tammy Beaumont were declared as the T20I Cricketers of the Year. South Africa's Janneman Malan and Pakistan's Fatima were named as Emerging Players of the Year while Oman's Zeeshan Maqsood and Austria's Andrea-Mae Zepeda were the Associate Cricketers of the Year.