The 62-year-old, who has stood in a record 126 Tests and 179 One-Day Internationals, announced last week that he was quitting the game after his assignments in March.

“Steve’s contribution to our great sport over two decades at the top level of umpiring has been immense,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said yesterday.

“To have remained as one of the game’s top officials for that length of time has required Steve to be self-motivated, confident and well respected, and he has all those qualities in abundance, while at the same time remaining a very humble man.”

The third and final Test between South Africa and Australia starting on March 19 in Cape Town next month will be Bucknor’s final Test while his international commitments will end with the fourth ODI between the West Indies and England on March 29 in Barbados.

Lorgat said the ICC would formally recognise Bucknor’s contribution once he had officially retired.

“We will pay Steve the tribute his outstanding service to the game merits once his final appointments have been completed,” the top ICC executive said.

“In the meantime I know that Steve, being the understated man that he is, will want to focus on the job at hand, that of getting things right on the field, something he has done as well as any other umpire in the history of the game.”

Bucknor, who umpired his first international match in 1989, has become one of the game’s most respected figures and in March 2005 became the first umpire to stand in 100 Tests.

A member of the ICC’s Elite panel since its inception in 1993, he has stood in every World Cup final since 1992.