Intro:

Australian cricket umpire Simon Taufel, widely considered to be one of the best in the sport, spoke of his retirement and the highlights from his long, illustrious career at a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Saturday - Taufel is set to bow out after officiating the final of the World Twenty20 between Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Simon Taufel, cricket umpire:
"Initially for me I always get a few butterflies when I umpire. Nervousness is quite good providing you can harness and control that so whether it is the first Test match back on Boxing day 2000 or umpiring on home soil in front of your friends and family - the people that have helped you get to that stage. Or whether I look at attending a World Cup and one of the biggest games early on in my career that I can think of would have been that Super-Sixes match back in Johannesburg between India and Sri Lanka. You know, for me just to get an opportunity to umpire with such huge focus. Recently I can think back to the semi final of the 2011 World Cup between India and Pakistan, where it was more than just a game of cricket. You had both Prime Ministers present, you had everybody flying in to Mahali, Chandigarh and basically you had two finals in that tournament."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Simon Taufel, cricket umpire:
"The 3rd of March 2009 was very unfortunate for me personally and very unfortunate for cricket. I think we would all like to see cricket played in Pakistan sooner rather than later. It is certainly a place I have fond memories of and the people and the cricket that is played there. I have done a lot of my international cricket in Pakistan. It is what it is at the moment. That day did change me personally, it did change cricket. I think my family sitting at the back of the room are very happy to see me sitting here and it was a very difficult phone call that I had with my wife after that incident. however, as I said before, it is important that we learn from every experience and I think we learnt a lot on that day."