Tom Brooks

Thomas Francis Brooks OAM (28 March 1919 – 16 July 2007) was an Australian Test cricket match umpire who was born in Paddington, New South Wales. Brooks had earlier played first class cricket for NSW.

New South Wales, between 1946/47 and 1952/53 seasons, taking 65 wickets at an average of 22.50, and scoring 192 runs at 16.00. Jack Pollard described him as a “spirited” bowler “who moved the ball appreciably in the air. He played first with the Waverley club but later with the Manly club.

He umpired 23 Test matches between 1970 and 1978. His first match was between Australia and England at Brisbane on 27 November to 2 December 1970, a drawn match in which Keith Stackpole scored 207 and Doug Walters a century. Brooks’ partner was Lou Rowan.

He was appointed to umpire what would have been the third of that series, with Rowan, which was scheduled for Melbourne, but the test was abandoned without a ball bowled. Notwithstanding that Brooks and Rowan were required to make decisions on several occasions during the first three days scheduled for play, relating to the possibility of play following any number of inspections of pitch and surrounds, the International Cricket Council (I.C.C.) decided that the test could not be recognised as such. A 40-over match was played in place of the test and was won by Australia by 5 wickets. Brooks (and Rowan) thus became the first umpires to stand in a One Day International match. Brooks stood in one other ODI, in 1975.