Claire Polosak becomes first female match official in men's Test match

SYDNEY: Australia's Claire Polosak created history by becoming the first female match official to officiate a men's Test match when she took up the fourth umpire's role in the third Test between Australia and India which began Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Polosak has joined fellow Australian match officials Paul Reiffel, Paul Wilson, Bruce Oxenford and David Boon in the playing control team for the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The 32-year-old already has the distinction of being the first woman on-field umpire in a men's ODI match in ICC's Division 2 league between Namibia and Oman played at the Windhoek in 2019.

Polosak's international umpiring career began in 2015 with appointment to the ICC Women's T20 Qualifying tournament in Thailand. This led to appointment to the Women's T20 World Cup in India.

In November the following year, Polosak made her Women's ODI debut when Australia played South Africa in Canberra. Polosak was then appointed to the 50-over Women's World Cup in 2017 held in the UK.

Polosak was then appointed to the Women's World T20 Cup in the West Indies throughout November 2018 which included the semi-final between England and India at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

In addition to her men's ODI match, Polosak has stood 17 women's ODIs with an additional three as third umpire, and 33 women's T20Is with an additional five as third umpire. Polosak has been on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires since 2018 and the CA Supplementary Umpire Panel since 2014/15.

On the domestic front, Polosak has officiated in three Domestic One-Day Cup matches and has fulfilled the third umpire duties on 13 occasions in the Big Bash to date.

The ongoing four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India registering a win in the second in Melbourne.