''Slow death'' Bucknor to retire after two years

Montego Bay, Mar 12 (UNI) After 18 years of top-flight international career, West Indies umpire Steve Bucknor has decided to call it quits after two years.

''I am over 60 now and I don't want to be an international umpire after I am 63,'' Bucknor, whose current contract with the ICC ends at the end of the Caribbean World Cup, said.

''I have noticed that after 63, an umpire's average performance goes down, so I have given myself another two years at most,'' said the six-foot-four-inch Jamaican.

''Slow Death Bucknor'', who is officiating in his fifth World Cup in the mega event in the Caribbean is a widely respected umpire and has stood in 153 ODIs so far, third in all-time list after David Shepherd and Rudi Koertzen.

Bucknor has also stood in three successive World Cup finals (1996, 1999 and 2003), all with Shepherd who retired in 2005, but has expressed his desire not to stand for the fourth time as he wants the West Indies to feature in the summit clash in Barbados on April 28.

He has stood in more Test matches than anyone else by breaking Dickie Bird's record in 2002, and in March 2005 he became the first umpire to stand in 100 Tests.

In recognition of his contribution to the game, he was given the honour to read the officials' oath on behalf of all umpires and match referees during yesterday's official opening ceremony of the World Cup at Trelawny Stadium -- less than 45 minutes drive from his birthplace Montego Bay.

As a schoolboy, Bucknor was a star at football, cricket and track and field. He later became a highly successful schoolboy football coach and later a referee also. He missed the prospect of becoming international football referee because of FIFA age limitations.

After retirement, Bucknor said he will return to coaching football and getting his fledgling football academy in St James, which currently has 35 teenagers, in full gear.

UNI