Menon, Dharmasena to be on-field umpires for WC opener

ICC appoints 16 umpires and referees for World Cup opener between England and New Zealand on Oct 5, incl. Nitin Menon, Kumar Dharmasena, Javagal Srinath, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson, Chris Brown, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Ahsan Raza, Paul Reiffel, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shaid, Rod Tucker, Alex Wharf, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.

India's Nitin Menon and Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena will officiate the World Cup opener between England and New Zealand on October 5, while former pacer Javagal Srinath will serve as the match referee, the ICC announced on Friday.

Paul Wilson and Saikat will be the TV umpire and the fourth umpire respectively in the tournament opener to be played in Ahmedabad.

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.

The experienced list includes three of the four umpires who were appointed for the 2019 final at Lord's — Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus and Rod 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 — Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Srinath.

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.

Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager – Cricket, said: “To deliver an event of this magnitude you require high performing individuals at every level.