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Umpire Kumar Dharmasena has won the David Shepherd Trophy at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo. Dharmasena, 41, received the award following the voting by the 10 Test Full Member captains as well as the seven-man Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. The Sri Lankan was judged on his decision statistics and officiating skills during the past 12 months. It is the first time the Sri Lankan has received the ICC award, which was renamed in 2010 after the late England umpire David Shepherd. Dharmasena accepted his award from Graham Gooch and said: “This award means a lot to me, after playing cricket for 12 years. It’s for the Sri Lankan umpires and the community who looked after my growth. Honestly, I feel I had a great year on and off the field and I feel having been a cricketer has helped me with my decision making as an umpire and to give better decisions. “This is one of the best awards I could have got as an individual as I only joined the Elite Panel a year ago, it’s a really honour.” The Sri Lankan faced strong competition from his colleagues on the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires Billy Bowden, Rodney Tucker, Richard Kettleborough, five-time winner Simon Taufel and three-time ICC Umpire of the Year Aleem Dar. Dharmasena, who made his international debut as an umpire in 2009, joined the Emirates Elite Panel in May 2011. In the voting period he stood in seven Tests and 13 ODIs. Prior to umpiring, Dharmasena represented Sri Lanka in 31 Test matches and 141 ODIs and was part of Sri Lanka ’s 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup winning side.

Kumar Dharmasena wins David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire