Billy Bowden's umpiring days virtually over after getting axed from NZC's international panel

Wellington: Flamboyant New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden may have stood in his last international match after being dropped from New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) international panel.

The 53-year-old Bowden, who officiated in 84 tests and 200 one-day internationals over 21 years, amused cricket fans with his eccentric signals, especially the crooked finger with which he indicated dismissals.

Bowden insisted he couldn’t extend the finger because of arthritis.

He was dropped from the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) elite panel in 2013, returned in 2014 but was omitted again after umpiring the Test between the West Indies and England in Barbados in May, 2015.

Bowden umpired his 200th one-day international when New Zealand played Australia in Wellington in February.

Meanwhile, Indian umpire S Ravi has retained his place in ICC’s ‘Elite Panel’, while C Shamshuddin has been elevated to ‘Emerging Panel’.