The Age has reported on Wednesday (29 August) that Simon Taufel has resigned as Cricket Australia‘s Head of Umpiring citing “personal reasons”.

It is also learned that Taufel took early leave last week and will not return to work before his contract expires on Friday, just a fortnight before the 2018-19 domestic season.

According to sources, Taufel’s decision was abrupt who has also been Panel Manager of the committee, which selects match referees and umpires since 2016, when he was hired by Pat Howard.

Taufel has received a lot of applause from umpires during his tenure, especially for his professional approach towards the match officials, as well as by the match referees in both Australian First-Class cricket and the Big Bash League (BBL).

Meanwhile, it has suspected that Taufel could have been “frustrated with CA in recent times” as the Australian cricket board has undergone major changes recently.

At the moment, the CA CEO James Sutherland is serving a 12-month notice period and his replacement is yet to be interviewed, while the selection committee has been revamped, which was a direct impact of the ball-tampering scandal earlier this year at Cape Town, South Africa.

One of the finest umpires in the history of cricket, Taufel was named ICC Umpire of the Year for every year between 2004 and 2008.