| Willem Molenaar | |
| Country: | Netherlands |
| Family: | Marjolijn Molenaar (daughter) |
| Birth Date: | 20 August 1945 |
| Umpire: | true |
| Wodisumpired: | 4 |
| Umpwodidebutyr: | 1984 |
| Umpwodilastyr: | 2008 |
| Listaumpired: | 4 |
| Umplistadebutyr: | 1999 |
| Umplistalastyr: | 2010 |
| Date: | 29 August |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Source: | https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/47/47950/47950.html CricketArchive |
Joseph Pieter Anne Willem Molenaar (20 September 1945 – 30 August 2022) was a Dutch cricket umpire whose international career spanned from the early 1980s through to the early 2010s.
Molenaar first umpired an international match in 1983, when he officiated a match between the Dutch and Irish women's teams at the one-off Centenary Tournament in Utrecht.[1] The following year, he umpired a women's One Day International (ODI) between the Netherlands and New Zealand, which was the Dutch team's first ODI.[2] Molenaar's first major men's tournament was the 1990 ICC Trophy, which was hosted by the Netherlands. He officiated several group-stage matches and the semi-final between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and returned for the 1994 edition in Kenya.[3]
Outside of Hoofdklasse (top-class) league matches, Molenaar regularly umpired matches between Dutch sides and touring international sides throughout the 1990s and 2000s.[4] He made his umpiring debut in list-A matches during the 1999 NatWest Trophy season, officiating a game between the Netherlands and Durham at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. Molenaar also umpired games at the 2003 and 2004 editions of the competition (renamed the C&G Trophy), though neither of those games involved the Netherlands.[5] In March 2007, he was appointed to ICC Europe's inaugural European Umpire Panel, as one of five Dutch umpires.[6]
In August 2007, after a gap of almost 23 years since his first women's ODI, Molenaar umpired two more matches, during the South African tour of the Netherlands.[2] Later in the month, when Bermuda toured, he was also reserve umpire for two men's ODIs.[7] Molenaar's last women's ODI to date came in July 2008, when the West Indian team toured.[2] In September 2009, when Afghanistan toured, he was the third umpire for one of the men's ODIs.[8] His final list-A match as an umpire (to date) came in July 2010, a one-day match between the Netherlands and a Zimbabwe XI that preceded an Intercontinental Cup fixture.[5] Molenaar's daughter, Marjolijn Molenaar, has played at ODI level for the Netherlands.[9]