NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan’s Aleem Dar, cricketing world’s leading umpire, has added another feather in his cap when he became Asia’s most experienced adjudicator at the Test match level while he began officiating in the second Test between England and the West Indies that began at Trent Bridge here on Friday.

Calm-looking Aleem, 43, who is supervising the ongoing Trent Bridge Test along with compatriot Asad Rauf, is standing in his 74th Test, surpassing India’s S. Venkataraghavan’s record of 73 Tests.

Aleem, who made his debut as Test umpire in the Dhaka Test between Bangladesh and England in October 2003, has also been honoured with the ICC Umpire of the Year award in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

He has also umpired in 149 50-over-a-side games so far.

After officiating the 2003 World Cup, Aleem, owing to his extraordinary umpiring ability, was later included in the ICC Elite Panel of umpires. The soft-spoken umpire then went on to supervise the 2007 World Cup final between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown.—Agencies