Cricket Australia (CA) and International Cricket Council (ICC) Match Referee Kent Hannam has made his women’s Test Match debut in the CommBank Women’s Ashes Test Match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Hannam joined the Cricket Australia Match Officials team in 2015/16, appointed to officiate in CA competitions before being appointed to the inaugural Supplementary Match Referee Panel prior to the 2017/18 season. Hannam previously enjoyed a playing and coaching career in the Victorian Premier Cricket ranks during the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Hannam also coached in the Victorian High-Performance system including stints with the Victorian Second XI and Victorian WNCL teams.
Hannam continues to make a significant contribution to the Weber WBBL thus far officiating 82 matches. His tally is the most of any Match Referee for that competition. Included in this tally was appointment to the 2021-22 WBBL Final featuring the Perth Scorchers and the Adelaide Strikers at Perth Stadium. The Final was played in front of a WBBL record crowd in excess of 15,000.
Hannam was appointed to the National Match Referee Panel prior to the 2020-21 season. Hannam made his Women' T20 International debut when Australia played the West Indies at the North Sydney Oval in October 2023 and has gone on to officiate in three Women's T20 Internationals. Hannam made his Women's One Day International between the same teams, this time at Allan Border Field in Brisbane and has gone on to officiate in six Women's One Day Internationals.
Leading into this season, Hannam also made two significant men's International debuts. First, officiating in his first men's T20 International when the Cook Islands played Vanuatu in an ICC Qualifying event in Samoa. And the following month, travelling to Canada where he officiated in his first men's One Day International between the hosts and Nepal in Ontario.
Hannam becomes just the ninth Australian Match Referee to be appointed to a Test Match and the seventh to officiate a Women's Test Match.