The ICC today announced details of the umpires and match referees appointed to the opening stages of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
16 umpires, including nine officials from the Emirates Elite Panel and seven members of the Emirates International Panel have been named.
Of the eight members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC match referees, seven have been selected to officiate with the only man missing Clive Lloyd, who is occupying a role as team manager for hosts the West Indies.
The selections were made by following ICC’s normal process for appointments, with the ICC’s cricket department working with Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee and an ICC Cricket World Cup winner in 1983, and ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed.
The umpiring team is full of vastly experienced officials including five men Koertzen, Bucknor, Harper, Taufel and Bowden who have stood in more than 100 ODIs each. The three group matches Rudi Koertzen is due to stand in will take him to 166 matches, just six short of David Shepherd’s mark for most ODIs umpired.
With Shepherd retiring in 2005, one thing that is certain is that at least one umpire will stand in his first ICC CWC final as Shepherd and Steve Bucknor have stood together in the past three finals, 1996, 1999 and 2003.
- South Africa v Ireland, Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Aleem Dar and Peter Parker
- Ireland v Canada, Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Aleem Dar and Daryl Harper
Team D, working on matches in group D, in Jamaica, that includes Ireland, Pakistan the West Indies and Zimbabwe are match referees Chris Broad and Roshan Mahanama and umpires Billy Bowden, Brian Jerling, Ian Gould and Simon Taufel.
15 March, Zimbabwe v Ireland, Sabina Park, Jamaica match referee Roshan Mahanama, on-field umpires Ian Gould and Brian Jerling, third umpire Billy Bowden, fourth umpire Simon Taufel- 17 March, Pakistan v Ireland, Sabina Park, Jamaica match referee Broad, on-field umpires Brian Jerling and Billy Bowden, third umpire Simon Taufel, fourth umpire Ian Gould
- 23 March, West Indies v Ireland, Sabina Park, Jamaica match referee Mahanama, on-field umpires Billy Bowden and Ian Gould, third umpire Brian Jerling, fourth umpire Simon Taufel
The appointments for the Super 8s stage of the tournament and beyond will be made and announced indue course.
Photos Copyright David Gadd and Richard Sellers
