Tucker, born in Auburn, first started his involvement in the sport as a player, which saw him play first-class cricket for New South Wales (1986-1988), Tasmania (1988-199) and Canberra (1999-2000) - which saw him contest 103 matches and score 5,076 runs.

When he stopped playing, the now 54-year-old, transitioned into umpiring - a role he had never really considered.

"After I retired from playing in 2002, I contacted Geoff Allardice, Cricket Australia Umpire Manager and discussed the advantages of former first-class and international players becoming involved in umpiring," Tucker said.

"There was a feeling at the time, not enough of the umpires had an understanding of the game, the way you understand it from playing at a high level.

"I felt there was an opportunity to transition my skills and understanding of the game of cricket into umpiring.

"Together with former Australian Test cricketer Paul Reiffel, we became the first project panel umpires."

Tucker and Reiffel joined the CA project panel later that year, but they first had to progress through the grade ranks.

Three years later, Tucker was appointed for his debut first-class game.

His astronomical rise through the ranks continued and by 2008, he was appointed to his first international match - a one-day clash between Australia and South Africa at Bellerive Oval.

Tucker would go on to officiate more than 10 ODIs in Australia that year, which led to him promoted onto the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in 2010 - the 12 top officials in the world.

Since then, Tucker has umpired 67 Test matches, 35 Twenty20s and 83 ODIs - 16 of which were at the recent World Cup in England and Wales.

"As I was part of the elite panel, which is continually updated based on performances, I knew back in March I would have the honour of umpiring at the World Cup," Tucker said.

Despite two World Cups, 2011 in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, under his belt, Tucker was also selected to umpire the IPL in April as a good lead up to the World Cup.

Tucker then touched down in England on 19th May for the 12th Cricket World Cup.

"I really enjoy the opportunity to umpire in tournaments such as the World Cup, they only happen every four years and I get to umpire alongside the best umpires in the world," he said.

He umpired three warm-up games (Pakistan vs Afghanistan, South Africa vs West Indies and West Indies vs New Zealand) prior to the tournament, which contained 10 teams and 48 different matches and Tucker officiated 13 of them.

"A standout moment came for me in the clash between New Zealand and the West Indies," he said.

"Carlos Braithwaite's breathtaking century had put his team into a position to win the game but in attempting to win the match with a six, Trent Boult caught him on the boundary to seal New Zealand's win - which sent them into the semi-finals."

Tucker, on the back of his strong performances at the World Cup, was appointed as the third umpire for the final between England and New Zealand at Lord's on July 14.

"In Australia's semi-final with England, it was a win-win for me - either we would make the final and I'd get to go home early or England would win and I'd be appointed as one of the four umpires for the final," he said.

"Even though this was the first time I hadn't been ranked in the top three umpires since 2012, due to other officials' strong performances, I was appointed to the final because several England officials couldn't do it because of the conflict of interest."

Tucker was appointed third umpire for the fixture, alongside Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena, South Africa's Marais Erasmus (both on-field), Pakistan's Aleem Dar (reserve) and Sri Lanka's Ranjan Madugalle (match referee).

"It was a honour to be a part of one of the all-time great World Cup finals," he said.

"While it's going on, you're aware of what's happening but you try and not get caught up in it all and just concentrate on the job at hand.

"Full credit to both teams and countries for the way the game was played.

"I actually did the game between England and New Zealand in the group stage and both teams have a huge amount of respect for each other and the game - they play cricket the way it's supposed to be played."

This final adds to Tucker's already impressive list of accolades, which include the 2013 Champions Trophy final (field umpire), 2014 T20 World Cup final (third umpire), 2015 World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa (field umpire), 2016 T20 World Cup final (field umpire) and 2017 Champions Trophy final (third umpire) - with the two field umpiring gigs being his career highlights to date.

"The World Cup final is seen as the pinnacle in our job and if it wasn't for Australia being in the 2015 final, I would have been a good chance be on the field for that match," he said.

"But that just drives me to keep improving my performance and achieving my dream of being on the field for a World Cup final.

"It's up to me to improve my decision-making percentage - which at the end of the day, is what we are marked on.

"Usually I am between 93 and 96 per cent [of making the correct decision] but last year I was at 92.5 per cent and a couple of guys had standout years.

"However, if I can get back up above 95 per cent, I'll get back nearer the top.

"I had a great start by having an error-free World Cup.

"The longer you umpire, the higher your expectation and the more pressure you put on yourself, which only makes me strive to be the best I can.

"It's been a good run thus far but my eyes are firmly fixed on that World Cup in 2023 in India."

The umpire, upon reflecting on his career which will see him to the West Indies in two weeks for their Test series with India, appreciates how lucky he's been to travel around the world and meet some of the world's top cricketers including Kevin Pietersen, VVS Laxman, AB De Villiers, Virendar Sehwag and Kane Williamson - all who Tucker enjoyed watching at the top of their game.

"I was umpiring the Test where Muttiah Muralitharan claimed his 800th career wicket and saw Sachin Tendulkar, Joe Root and Kumar Sangakkara make incredible double-centuries," he said.

"I even met Sir Don Bradman - arguably the greatest cricketer ever - at Adelaide Oval during my playing days, in my first Sheffield Shield match between NSW and South Australia.

"Looking back at all those highlights, at the time, I didn't get too caught up in the moment but upon reflecting on them, they are all very special and I'm very lucky to have been in that position."

Tucker has particular admiration for former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum.

"Brendon's attitude towards the game really laid the platform for future successes for New Zealand," he said.

"He showed them they should only concentrate on what they can control. The Black Caps never blame anyone but themselves as shown during the World Cup final loss."

One moment from McCullum's career, which included 101 Tests and 260 ODIs for his country, that stands out to Tucker is the third Test of the series between the Blacks Caps and Pakistan in November 2014.

"After day one of the Test match, Pakistan were five down about 300 on the board," he said.

"But that night is when the unfortunate Phillip Hughes incident occurred and before play was scheduled to start, Brendon came to Paul [Reiffel] and I said play should be abandoned on day two as a mark of respect to him.

"When day three rolled around, Brendon and his side still didn't want to play but the decision was made to continue the match.

"On the first morning of day three, the Kiwis decided to bowl no short balls and to only put their arms in the air to appeal - as a mark of respect to the last Phillip Hughes.

"But after a while, Paul and I had to pull Brendon aside and ask him to at least make some noise when they wanted to appeal, as it was near impossible to umpire in the current circumstances.

"As it was, New Zealand took the final five wickets for about 50 runs, before McCullum came out and blasted 202 (which at the time was the fourth-fastest double ton in Test history off 186 balls), helping his side claim victory by an innings.

"In short, this speaks to Brendon's character as a cricketer but more importantly a person."

Looking ahead, Tucker is excited for the future of the sport, especially with the recent introduction of the umpire decision review system.

"DRS has been great for the game of cricket, both on the field but also in terms of excitement on the television," he said.

"It helps the players as now if they feel strongly against a decision, they can challenge it.

"And after the review, the play goes on as it should have."

"As an umpire, you know pretty quickly if your decision is right or not.

"One that stands out recently was at the World Cup when Joe Root thought he hadn't hit the ball on a missed hook shot off Trent Boult.

"However, I thought he nicked it and gave him out.

"So he walked down the wicket and said he didn't hit it and reviewed it straight away - my heart was in my mouth."

"But the replay showed a nick and he took it on the chin."

Ahead of the upcoming Ashes series, Tucker, who loves the challenge of officiating sub-continent matches, admits there are positives and negatives to the role.

"Obviously I'd love to officiate an Ashes series but with the neutrality rules in place, I, unfortunately, can't," he said.

"Although the series between teams like South Africa, India, New Zealand and England are of the same intensity.

"As such, there's a luxury when I return to our country, especially to the beautiful South Coast, no one knows who I am, as I'm out of the national spotlight.

"At the end of the day, there's no place like home.

"In my downtime, you'll find me on the golf course, I don't mind a bit of surfing and just recently my wife Andrea and I trekked to Everest base camp, which was just incredible.

"Physically and mentally challenging but with every corner we turned there was another amazing mountain range - it was definitely a bucket list item of ours."