Sue Redfern
Sue Redfern, whose full name is Suzanne Redfern, is an English cricket umpire and former player. Born on 26 October 1977 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, she played for England from 1995 to 1999, including the 1997 Women's World Cup. She later became one of cricket’s leading umpires and was made an MBE for services to cricket.
As a player, Redfern started in county cricket with East Midlands in 1992, then moved to Derbyshire in 1997 and Staffordshire in 2003, retiring after the 2008 season. She made her international debut for England in July 1995 at the age of 17, playing in European Championship matches against the Netherlands, Denmark, and Ireland. Her Test debut came later in 1995 against India. Her standout moment was in the 1997 ODI series against South Africa, where she was named player of the series, taking nine wickets at an average of 10.44. She also played in the 1997 World Cup, and her England career ended in 1999 with a Test and an ODI against India.
After retiring as a player, Redfern became an umpire. She started in local games and, in 2015, served as fourth umpire in an England vs Australia ODI. She then umpired in the 2015 Women’s Twenty20 Qualifier and in 2016 she stood in a ICC tournament where two women umpired a men’s match for the first time. In 2017 she was among four female umpires named by the ICC to officiate in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier, making her the first woman to have played in a Women’s World Cup and then umpire in a tournament.
In 2018 she was chosen to umpire in the Women’s World Twenty20. She joined the ICC Development Panel of Umpires in 2019 and qualified to umpire in the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup. In 2021 she became the first woman to umpire an England men’s home match, standing as fourth umpire in a game against Sri Lanka. She also umpired the inaugural women’s game of The Hundred in 2021.
Redfern was named one of the on-field umpires for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand and became a member of England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Professional Umpires’ Team, making her the first woman to umpire in England’s men’s first-class cricket. By 2023 she was still the only woman to umpire in men’s first-class cricket in England and was a full-time ECB employee, earning around £40,000 a year plus match fees. In September 2023 she became the first female umpire to stand in a first-class match in England and Wales (Glamorgan vs Derbyshire). In 2024 she was named to an all-female officiating group for the Women's T20 World Cup.
Redfern’s groundbreaking work has helped pave the way for more women to umpire at the highest levels of cricket.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:24 (CET).