G. S. Lakshmi
Personal information
Full name
Gandikota Sarva Lakshmi[1]
Born23 May 1968 (1968-05-23)
Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India
NicknameLaksh
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
International information
National side
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1985/86–1990/91Bihar
1993/94–1999/00South Zone
1999/00Andhra
2000/01–2002/03Railways
2000/01Karnataka
Source: CricketArchive, 15 January 2022

Gandikota Sarva Lakshmi is an Indian cricket match referee and a former domestic cricketer and coach.[2] She was a right-handed batswoman and right-arm fast-medium outswing bowler.[3]

Lakshmi became the first woman to be appointed to the International Cricket Council's International Panel of Match Referees on 14 May 2019.[4][5] The first match that she refereed was played between England and Australia.

Early life

Lakshmi was born to a Brahmin family in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh on 23 May 1968. She grew up in Jamshedpur where her father worked for the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (now Tata Motors). Lakshmi began playing cricket in Tata Nagar. She was initially denied admission to the Jamshedpur Women's College in 1986 due to her "terribly poor marks" in 10th board examinations. However, her father requested her to tryout for the college's sports quota. She was able to secure admission to Jamshedpur Women's College who felt that she could be their frontline fast bowler. She moved to Hyderabad in 1989 after securing a job with South Central Railway and subsequently began playing for the South Central Railways cricket team.[6][7]

Career

Lakshmi played for several domestic teams including Andhra Women, Bihar Women, Railways Women, East Zone Women and South Zone Women between 1989 and 2004. Lakshmi got married in 1991. She received a call-up to the Rest of India team on her wedding day but chose to take a sabbatical from cricket. She returned to cricket with the South Central Railways team and helped them win the inter-Railways title for the first time in 1995. She was selected in the squad for the India women's national cricket team's tour of England in 1999, but did not play a single match. Lakshmi retired from cricket in 2004.[6][7]

After her retirement, Lakshmi served as coach of the South Central Railways team until 2014.[6] Lakshmi first officiated as a match referee in domestic women's cricket in the 2008–09 season.[8] She was among a group of five female referees who made their debuts during the season after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allowed female referees for the first time in domestic cricket. Lakshmi was the only one among the group to have not played for the India national team. She was among five female candidates shortlisted through the BCCI's qualification exam for match referees in 2014. Subsequently, she was permitted to officiate boys' and men's domestic games. Lakshmi issued her first Code-of-Conduct penalty in a match between UP and Bengal in the under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy.[6] The BCCI recommended her for appointment to the ICC International Panel of Match Referees in 2018.[9]

Lakshmi was the match referee for all four matches of the 2019 Women's T20 Challenge.[6] She was the first woman to be appointed to the ICC International Panel of Match Referees on 14 May 2019.[10][11] She was one of the three match referees for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first woman to be named as a referee at an ICC event.[12] In December 2019, she was named as the match referee for the opening match of the 2019 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series, becoming the first woman to oversee a men's ODI match.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Das, AuthorN Jagannath. "Lakshmi becomes ICC match referee". Telangana Today. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "GS Lakshmi becomes first woman to be ICC match referee". ESPNcricinfo. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "GS Lakshmi". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "ICC welcomes first female match referee and boosts numbers on development panel". ICC. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  5. ↑ "India's GS Lakshmi to be first woman match referee to officiate at ICC event". www.thenewsminute.com. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "'I want to officiate in Women's World Cup final' - GS Lakshmi". ESPNcricinfo. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  7. 1 2 Subrahmanyam, V. V. "'Its a special feeling' says Suvarna Lakshmi after becoming ICC's first female match referee". Sportstar. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "India's GS Lakshmi becomes first female ICC match referee - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "Pitch Perfect: From player to referee, AP's Lakshmi first woman to be on ICC panel". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "GS Lakshmi is first woman on ICC international panel of match referees". BBC. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  11. ↑ "ICC Appoints India's GS Lakshmi as First-ever Female Match Referee". News18. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "Match Officials announced for ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  13. ↑ "GS Lakshmi set to become first woman referee to oversee men's ODI". Women's CricZone. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
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