Dubai, Oct 4: Nitin Menon, the only Indian in the ICC Elite Panel of umpires, figures in the list of 16 umpires and four match referees who will officiate in the T20 World Cup First Round and Super 12s stage matches in Australia from October 16.
Menon, the 38-year-old former Indian cricketer, has been selected along with 15 other umpires to officiate in the World Cup matches to be held at seven venues across the country.
“In total, 16 umpires will officiate across the tournament with Richard Kettleborough, Nitin Menon, Kumara Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus having been the umpires in charge of the 2021 final, which saw this year’s hosts claim their first ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title,” said ICC in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is an experienced group of umpires, with the same 16 selected as last year’s tournament which was held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman,” ICC said.
Chief Referee of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, Ranjan Madugalle, is part of a quartet of former international cricketers who will make up the match referees for the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup. Sri Lankan Madugalle is joined by Andrew Pycroft of Zimbabwe, England’s Christopher Broad and Australian David Boon.
Pycroft will be in-charge of the tournament opener in Geelong on October 16 when Sri Lanka take on Namibia in the First Round with Joel Wilson and Rodney Tucker the umpires in the middle. Paul Reiffel will act as the TV umpire with Erasmus, occupying the role of the fourth umpire.
Erasmus, Tucker and Aleem Dar are set to appear in their seventh ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with Langton Rusere umpiring in his second World Cup of the year having stood in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, including acting as reserve umpire for the final.
Rusere will be the TV umpire when Australia and New Zealand kick off the Super 12 round on October 22 in Sydney. The match is a replay of the 2021 final and Rusere will be joined by Adrian Holdstock and Dharmasena (on-field) and Richard Illingworth (fourth umpire).
The officials for the semifinals and final of the tournament will be named in due course, said ICC.
Match Referees: Andrew Pycroft, Christopher Broad, David Boon, Ranjan Madugalle.
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock, Aleem Dar, Ahsan Raza, Christopher Brown, Christopher Gaffaney, Joel Wilson, Kumara Dharmasena, Langton Rusere, Marais Erasmus, Michael Gough, Nitin Menon, Paul Reiffel, Paul Wilson, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Rodney Tucker.
