Cricket Australia (CA) and International Cricket Council (ICC) Match Referee David Gilbert has made his men’s Test Match Referee debut in the one-off Test Match played between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Gilbert is a former Australian International playing nine Test Matches in total, and a further 14 One-Day Internationals during the 1980’s. Gilbert had an extensive First-Class and List-A playing career featuring in 127 First-Class and 62 List-A matches both in Australia and in the UK.
Gilbert joined the CA Match Officials team in 2018/19 as part of the CA Supplementary Match Referee Panel. He made his First-Class Match Referee debut in February 2020 in the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and South Australia at Bankstown Oval. He then made his KFC BBL debut the following season when the Hobart Hurricanes played the Sydney Sixers at Bellerive Oval. Gilbert made his List-A Match Referee debut in March 2021 when Queensland played Western Australia in their One Day Cup match at the Gabba.
Prior to the 2023-24 season, Gilbert was appointed by the International Cricket Council to the International Panel of Match Referees. He went on to debut in all three Women’s International formats culminating in a Test Debut in the match between Australia and South Africa at the WACA Ground in Perth.
Gilbert officiated his first men’s One Day International in November 2024 when Australia played Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In June 2025, Gilbert travelled to Canada to officiate in the T20 World Cup qualifying event where he was appointed to his first men’s T20 International as a match referee. Following appointment to an international series in New Zealand in October last year, Gilbert was appointed by the ICC as part of the Match Referee Panel for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup held in India.
Gilbert became just the fourth Australian Match Referee to be appointed to a men’s Test Match with Peter Burge, David Boon and Steve Bernard all officiating at the highest level.