Lauren Agenbag
Lauren Agenbag is a South African cricket umpire. Since February 2019, she has set several firsts in regards to women's umpiring in international and domestic cricket matches.Career
On 1 February 2019, she stood in the opening Women's Twenty20 International match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town. In doing so, she became the first South African women to umpire a T20I match. The International Cricket Council does not have official records, but at the age of 22 years, she is also believed to be the youngest person to umpire in an international cricket fixture, since George Coulthard did so in Australia in January 1879.
Cricket South Africa's Chief Executive, Thabang Moroe, praised Agenbag, saying "this is a very significant moment for umpiring in South Africa". Dane van Niekerk, captain of South Africa's womens team also praised Agenbag, saying "she held her own and it's awesome to a see a woman out there doing really well".
In May 2019, she was one of the on-field umpires for the final of the 2019 ICC Women's Qualifier Africa tournament, between Zimbabwe and Namibia. The same month, the International Cricket Council named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. In August 2019, she was named as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland.
In September 2019, Cricket South Africa appointed her to their Reserve List Umpires Panel for the 2019–20 cricket season. On 13 September 2019, Agenbag became the first woman to umpire in a senior men's provincial match, when she was one of the on-field umpires in the match between Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal Inland in the 2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup. On 17 October 2019, in the match between Gauteng and Boland in the 2019–20 CSA 3-Day Provincial Cup, Agenbag became the first woman to stand as an on-field umpire in a first-class cricket match in South Africa.
In February 2020, the ICC named her as one of the umpires to officiate in matches during the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.
