The International Cricket Council today named four World Cup winners in a 25-member match officials’ team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which runs from 14 February to 29 March.
The team includes five officials from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, 12 umpires from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and eight umpires from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires.
The match referees are: David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama.
The elite panel umpires are: Aleem Dar, Billy Bowden, Bruce Oxenford, Ian Gould, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Nigel Llong, Paul Reiffel, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Rod Tucker and Steve Davis.
The international panel umpires are: Johan Cloete, Simon Fry, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Ranmore Martinesz, Ruchira Palliyaguru, S.Ravi and Joel Wilson.
The eight umpires from the international panel have been identified as emerging and talented match officials, who have already officiated at international level.
The World Cup winners in the line-up are Boon, Dharmasena, Mahanama and Reiffel. Boon was part of Allan Border’s side that triumphed in Kolkata in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987 final, Dharmasena and Mahanama played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996 final in Lahore and Reiffel represented Australia at Lord’s in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999 final.
In addition to the four, Crowe represented New Zealand in the 1983 and 1987 ICC Cricket World Cups, Broad featured in three matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987, Illingworth participated in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992 in Melbourne as well as in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996 and Madugalle played in three ICC Cricket World Cups – 1979, 1983 and 1987.
The umpires were chosen by the selection panel of Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager – Cricket), Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Match Referee), David Lloyd (former player, coach, umpire and now television commentator) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (former elite panel umpire).
Match appointments will be announced closer to the warm-up matches.
About the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
The 11th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup kicks off in Christchurch on 14 February when co-host New Zealand takes on former champion Sri Lanka. On the same day at the picturesque Melbourne Cricket Ground, four-time world champion Australia will square-off against England, which reached the final the last time the event was staged in Australia/New Zealand in 1992.
A total of 49 matches will be played across 14 venues, seven in New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington) and seven in Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney).
The format of the tournament is the same as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, i.e. two groups of seven sides each, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. All the knock-out stage matches will have reserve days.
Apart from the 10 Full Members, four qualifiers – Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates – will take part in the tournament.
