Aleem Dar equals Steve Bucknor's record of highest capped Test umpire

Veteran umpire Aleem Dar on Thursday equalled Steve Bucknor's record of officiating 128 Test matches as he walked out to the middle at Lord's for the second Ashes Test between England and Australia.

Bucknor's career spanned from 1989 to 2009.

Dar made his Test match umpiring debut in a match between Bangladesh and England at Dhaka in 2003. He has officiated 376 games across all formats.

The 51-year-old umpire considers Bucknor as his idol and is thankful to ICC, PCB, and his family.

"It's a great honour to equal the number of Test matches of my role model, umpire Steve Bucknor," ICC quoted Dar as saying.

"I am thankful to Almighty God, ICC, PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board), my colleagues, my coaches, my club P & T and especially thanks to my family as without their help it was not easy to achieve this," he added.

Besides Dar and Bucknor, South Africa's Rudi Koertzen is the only other umpire to have reached the three-figure mark in Tests, having stood in 108 Tests.