Australia-India Test series: David Boon set to be named match referee

He became one of cricket’s great cult figures thanks to his famous mo and love of a “quiet” beer, but Australia will see a different side of David Boon this summer.

David Boon is set to return from the cricketing wilderness this summer. Picture: Phil Hillyard

David Boon is set to return to Australia’s Test match landscape, not as a stout-hearted number three batsman but the behavioural policeman for a potentially volatile summer.

Boon is likely to be appointed as the Test match referee for India’s four-Test tour of Australia in December-January where he could be standing in judgment of at least one player he has known from the cradle.

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With COVID restrictions limiting international travel, the ICC has broken traditional protocols to appoint home-based umpires and match referees in place of the customary model of neutral selections.

Sri Lankan match referee Ranjan Madugalle, who has presided over 193 Tests, will do his first home Test against Bangladesh, while England’s match referee Chris Broad recently stood in an English Test for the first time and created headlines by fining his son Stuart for dissent.

Boon sinks a cold one after a Shield match. Picture: Roy Haverkamp

Boon’s career path has meant he has not spent much time mixing with Australian players but there will be no need for an introduction to Mitchell Marsh, the son of his great friend and former opening partner Geoff.

Former teammate Ian Healy feels Boon would be a perfect choice and not a man to be trifled with.

“Boony will be excellent,’’ Healy said.

“He will definitely be able to separate personal from professional. He will bring a lot of integrity and he will know the standards he is looking for.

“He will have a great understanding of where the line should be. He is as tough as anyone so he should be able to be tough in a judicial capacity.’’

Boon has been on the match referee panel since 2011 and has been rarely seen around Australia’s national circuit because he spends most of his year overseas.

In his autobiography Playing For Keeps, Healy recalled feeling intimidated by Boon’s stone-faced stare from short leg when Healy played his first Test and felt that he had to prove himself before Boon rated him.

But he also accepted that square-jawed glance was also Boon’s natural way.

“Boony is hard to read at times but I see that as a strength in that role. Players will find out soon enough what he is thinking. If I was a player I would not want to get in front if him.’’