CAPE TOWN: Former international cricket umpire Rudi Koertzen died on Tuesday in a car accident in South Africa, his family said.

Koertzen, 73, was on the International Cricket Council’s elite panel of umpires for eight years and officiated in 331 matches, a record at the time of his retirement in 2010 that has since been surpassed by Pakistan’s Aleem Dar.

“It is a very big loss, foremost for his family and then for South Africa and cricket,” Dar was quoted as saying by ESPNcricInfo.

“He was one of the sharpest and finest umpires that we’ve seen,” wrote former Indian batsmen VVS Laxman.

Pakistani cricketers past and present also paid tribute to the South African, including the pace duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara remembered him as being one who was “honest, fortright and loved the game”.