ICC confirms Umpires and Referees for ICC Cricket World Cup 2003

The ICC today confirmed details of the 25 umpires and six match referees who have been appointed to officiate in the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa next February and March.

All eight members of the Elite Panel of umpires and the five Match Referees will be on duty throughout the tournament. They will be supported by 11 members taken from the ICC's International Panel of umpires, and one additional Match Referee:

ICC Elite Panel Umpires

Steve Bucknor, Daryl Harper, Rudi Koertzen, Dave Orchard, David Shepherd, Asoka de Silva, Russell Tiffin and Srinivas Venkataraghavan.

ICC Match Referees

Clive Lloyd, Ranjan Madugalle, Mike Procter, Wasim Raja and Gundappa Viswanath. The Panel has been supplemented for the duration of the tournament with the appointment of Denis Lindsay, from the Supplementary Panel of Referees.

ICC International Panel Umpires

Each of the International Panel umpires announced today has previous One Day International, and in some cases Test match, experience.

Their selection for World Cup duty follows detailed performance assessment of the Panel by the ICC's cricket operations managers.

Final appointments were approved by ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed, in consultation with Sunil Gavaskar, Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing.

ICC International Panel Umpire appointments:

Full biographical details of all ICC international umpires and referees can be found on the ICC website at www.icc.cricket.org

"With more than 50 games to be played during the World Cup there will be a heavy workload for all match officials. The International Panel was created for occasions such as this, to supplement and support the eight full time members of the Elite Panel. These appointments represent a great opportunity for these umpires to demonstrate their abilities on the biggest stage of all," commented ICC General Manager-Cricket, David Richardson.

In all, the ICC has appointed 25 umpires to officiate in the tournament. These include the eight members of the ICC Elite Panel, 11 members of the International Panel and two umpires from the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) First Class list, Ian Howell and Shahid Wadvalla.

The final four appointments are from the participating Associate Member nations: Michael Henry from Canada, Chris Pickett from Holland, Rockie D'Mello from Kenya and Jeff Luck of Namibia.

International Panel umpires will be appointed to on-field and third official duties, while the UCBSA and Associate umpires will act as fourth officials for the Group stage of World Cup matches.

ICC Media Contacts:

Mark Harrison

ICC Communications Manager

Tel: + 44 207 266 7935

Cell: + 44 787 944 1891

Email: mark.harrison@icc-cricket.com