Update

KNYSNA NEWS - Cricket umpire Kerrin Klaaste has added another line to her growing list of achievements. Last week she ticked off one of the few boxes that remained unticked – umpiring First Class cricket.

Kerrin was one of the standing umpires in the CSA Four-day Series Division 2 match between Northern Cape Heat and the Knights from 9 to 12 November.

Although she'd already umpired a List A fixture earlier this year, and most recently officiated women's one-day internationals as well as women's T20- internationals, Kerrin just hadn't made her First Class debut yet.

And while one might be inclined to brush it off as "only a Division 2" fixture, you should not be mislead; this is an achievement not to be scoffed at.

Kerrin's fellow match officials for the fixture were two legends of South African cricket umpiring. Her co-umpire on-field was Jurie Sadler, who has officiated more than 100 professional matches including 53 First Class games, 54 List A games and 17 T20 games.

Adding to that, the match referee was none other than the legendary Shaun George, a veteran of South African cricket. 

George has officiated in both men's and women's international matches throughout his prestigious career, with an additional 400+ professional matches (List A, First Class and T20).

It's fair to say Kerrin was in good company for her First Class debut, which meant a great deal to her, while being a very new experience for the 25-year-old. "It was a big adjustment going from limited-over cricket to four days straight," she said.

"I was tested quite a lot throughout the match, but I really enjoyed it, it was a massive learning curve. I got great feedback from my coaches, which I will take and implement so that I can improve further. The player control team [George and Sadler] as a whole supported me tremendously in my transition to the more-day cricket format, so immense credit to them for the assistance."

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