Former South African umpire Rudi Koertzen and three other people were killed in a head-on collision in Riversdale, Western Cape, on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old, who lived in Despatch, was on his way back home from Cape Town after a golf weekend.
His son, Rudi Koertzen Jnr told Algoa FM News that his father died on impact.
“He went on a golf tournament with some of his friends, and they were expected to come back on Monday, but it seems they decided to play another round of golf,” Koertzen Jnr said.
The Proteas are wearing black armbands during their match against the England Lions in honour of Koertzen, who umpired in 108 Tests, 209 ODIs and 14 T20Is from 1992 to 2010.
He became known as the “slow finger of death” because of how he gave batsmen out.
“Every umpire has their trademark and that was mine. The media labelled it the ‘slow finger of death’ and I found that pretty interesting. There is a story behind it,” Koertzen said in an interview.
“When my umpiring career first began, I used to hold my hands in front of me and every time there was an appeal, I would fold them against my ribs.
“Someone told me ‘Rudi, you cannot do that. Every time you raise your hands to fold them, the bowler thinks you are going to give him a wicket’.
“So I started clasping my wrists at the back. The finger comes out slowly because it takes time for me to release my grasp at the back.”
RIP Rudi Koertzen, the slow finger of doom. Some of the best umpiring aesthetics I’ve seen pic.twitter.com/XAqTSfDqS0
— Tom Carpenter (@Carpo34) August 9, 2022
