In a landmark achievement, three promising female umpires received promotions to higher grades from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) during a ceremony held at the SLC Headquarters in Maitland Place.

Out of the three umpires, former Sri Lanka batter Dedunu de Silva has made vast strides in the field and have being promoted to Level-3 along with former Sri Lanka ‘A’ Team all-rounder Nimali Perera.

In addition, former Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club batter Sanduni Lakshika has been promoted to Level-4 among the panel of umpires.

In fact, Deduni is the most experienced out of the three female umpires, having officiated in the Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup Cricket Tournament which was held in Sri Lanka in October, last year.

The 42-year-old had the opportunity of officiating along with some of the senior umpires in the subcontinent, which included India’s Janani Narayanan who was inducted into the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires recently.

Some of the other umpires with whom she officiated at this tournament were Shozab Raza (Pakistan), Morshed Ali Khan (Bangladesh), and Sri Lanka’s Rohitha Kottahachchi and Asanga Jayasuriya.

Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka left-hand opening batsman Tharanga Paranavithana has moved to Level-4 in the panel of umpires.

Altogether, a total of 133 umpires across various levels, accredited by SLC were presented with promotion letters during this ceremony.

The evaluation process for these promotions included examinations, VIVA, and interviews, and was conducted under close scrutiny and supervised by the Umpires Committee. A total of 370 SLC accredited umpires sat for the examination and out of this 270 umpires got qualified to face the VIVA. The VIVA’s were conducted in seven centres covering all Districts. There were four promotions to Level-1, 10 promotions to Level-2, 29 promotions to Level-3 and 90 promotions to Level-4.