NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the 20 match officials for the League Round of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India on Friday. Sixteen umpires will officiate the 13th edition of the tournament, including all 12 of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and four members of the ICC Emerging Umpire Panel, they are: Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nitin Menon, Ahsan Raza, Paul Reiffel, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shaid, Rod Tucker, Alex Wharf, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
The experienced list includes three of the four umpires who were appointed for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 final at Lord’s - Dharmasena, Erasmus and Tucker – with only Aleem Dar missing, who stepped down from the Elite Panel in March of this year. The Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees is represented at the event by a quartet of former international cricketers, namely, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.
Srinath will take charge of the tournament opener between the last event’s finalists, England and New Zealand on 5 October in Ahmedabad. Menon and Dharmasena will be the standing umpires, with Paul Wilson as TV umpire and Saikat taking on fourth umpire duties.
The officials have been named for the entirety of the League segment, with the selections for the semi-finals and final of the tournament to be named in due course. ICC General Manager Wasim Khan said in ICC's press release, “To deliver an event of this magnitude you require high performing individuals at every level. The ICC Elite panel of umpires, referees, and emerging group of umpires involved will bring immense skills, experience and world class standards to this World Cup. We are delighted with the group that we have assembled for this tournament”.
“The ICC Cricket Operations department takes great pride and effort in operating a robust and meritocratic selection procedure with the help of our Member Boards. Our competitive pathway system continues to see the development and emergence of high-quality match officials across the game. We are pleased that four members of the ICC Emerging Umpire Panel have earned the opportunity to be part of this showcase event and we wish them, and all the other match officials involved all the very best for the tournament.”
ICC Manager – Umpires and Referees Sean Easey said, “We are pleased to announce the match officials who will be overseeing the biggest ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ever. This group is the best from around the world and will be ready to perform a challenging job, with the eyes of the global cricketing community focussed on the event. “We are confident that they will do an excellent job and wish them all the best of luck for what promises to be a World Cup to remember.”