Why are the Umpires wearing black armbands today in England vs South Africa 1st Test at Lord’s?

Why are the Umpires wearing black armbands today: All the three umpires are wearing black armbands at Lord’s today.

Playing a Test match after an exactly six-week long gap, England have managed to lose early wickets to not let an unwanted streak come to an end.

Put in to bat first by South Africa captain Dean Elgar on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s, England lost opening batters Alex Lees (5) and Zac Crawley (9) cheaply.

Bowling with a new ball, South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada struck in his third and fifth overs to justify Elgar’s decision of electing to bowl first on an overcast morning.

Rabada was well-supported by South Africa’s third and fourth pacers in Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje respectively. While Jansen pinned former England captain Joe Root (8) in front of the stumps (enough for DRS to confirm so), Nortje bowled Jonny Bairstow (0) to reduce the hosts to 55/4 in the first session itself.

Why are the Umpires wearing black armbands today at Lord’s?

As fans must have noted by now, all the umpires are donning black armbands at Lord’s on Wednesday. It is worth mentioning that the same has been done as a mark of honour and tribute towards former South Africa umpire Rudi Koertzen.

For the unversed, 73-year old Koertzen had passed away in a car accident last week. Koertzen, who had visited Cape Town to participate in a Golf tournament with his friends, was driving back to his home in Despatch when the unfortunate accident took place.

An 18-year old international career saw Koertzen officiating as an umpire and match referee in 128 Tests, 250 ODIs and 19 T20Is. A total of 331 matches across formats as an umpire sees Koertzen on the second position in the list of most matches as an umpire in international cricket.