The 4th umpire during the New Zealand and England T20I match at Nelson is in the news for a bizarre reason. Reports suggested that the umpire, Garth Stirrat, is a former adult movie star.
People know Garth Stirrat as the fourth umpire from the third T20I match between New Zealand and England, which took place at Nelson November 5. But, what most people don’t know is that the 51-year-old Stirrat is also a former adult movie star and he managed to keep this fact a secret, quite successfully for some time. In fact, he apparently used the name ‘Steve Parnell’ during his adult movie career days.
But, it wasn’t all rosy for him, his past came back to haunt him on many occassions. Reportedly, 10 years ago, Stirrat was sacked from his post as chief executive of the New Zealand Professional Golfers’ Association when his secret career came out in the open. But he didn’t lose hope and carved a successful career for himself in Cricket. Earlier, he even played cricket in his homeland before trying his hands at umpiring.
According to reports, Stirrat said after the third T20I, “Was proud as punch to be involved in the T20I in Nelson as 4th umpire. Wasn’t a bad way to spend the birthday too.”
FYI, this was the same match where New Zealand defeated England by 14 runs and took a 2-1 lead. England later came back with a bang and made the score 2-2 by beating New Zealand by 76 runs in the fourth T20I held in Napier.
