Just two weeks out from the Cricket World Cup 2011, the ICC has announced the umpires and match referees for the group stages of the tournament and the warm up matches played before hand.
Steve Davis of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Kumar Dharmasena of the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires, will stand in the tournament opener which will be played between Bangladesh and India in Mirpur on Saturday, February 19.
Billy Doctrove and Asad Rauf, both from the elite panel, will be the third and fourth umpires, respectively while Ranjan Madugalle of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referee will be the match referee.
In the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996, Dharmasena was Sri Lanka's second most successful bowler, along with Chaminda Vaas, with six wickets while the table was topped by Muttiah Muralidaran who took seven wickets. In the final against Australia at Lahore, Dharmasena had match figures of 10-0-47-1 as Sri Lanka won by seven wickets with 22 balls to spare.
Besides Davis and Dharmasena, others who will share the on-field responsibilities in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 include ICC Umpire of the Year 1009 and 2010, Aleem Dar, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Daryl Harper, Tony Hill, Asoka de Silva, four-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, Rod Tucker (all from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires), Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Amish Saheba and Shahvir Tarapore (all from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires).
The match referees for the event, besides Madugalle, are Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Roshan Mahanama and Andy Pycroft (all from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees).
Appointment of umpires and match referees for the knockout rounds are yet to be made and it is understood they will be decided based on the performance of the umpires during the group stages.