KARACHI, Oct 7: Pakistani duo of Nadeem Ghauri and Asad Rauf, who are both on the ICC international panel of umpires, are scheduled to stand in their first Tests early next year when Zimbabwe visit Bangladesh for a two-Test and five ODI series.
According to the International Cricket Council's announcement on Thursday, Asad, 48, with six ODIs as field umpire to his credit, will make his debut when he partners Sri Lanka's Tyronne Wijewardene in the first Test slated for Jan 7-11 at a venue to be decided later.
Nadeem, who will be 42 on Oct 12, has so far supervised in 19 One-day Internationals. He will stand in the second Test tentatively scheduled to begin on Jan 14 along with Gamini Silva of Sri Lanka.
He will also take charge of the first, third and fifth One-day Internationals on Jan 21, 27 and 31 respectively. Asad has been nominated for the remaining two ODIs on Jan 23 and 28.
Former Sri Lanka Test opening batsman Roshan Mahanama is the match referee for this series. Meanwhile, Aleem Dar, Pakistan's representative on the ICC elite panel of umpires faces a hectic schedule in the coming weeks.
After supervising three matches in the current triangular series, including the Oct 16 final at Lahore, Aleem hops across the border to stand in the final two Tests of the India-Australia series.
David Shepherd, the 63-year-old Englishman who has headlines for wrong reasons in recent times, partners the young Pakistani in the third Test at Nagpur from Oct 26 to 30. Aleem's colleague in the Nov 3-7 final Test at Mumbai is Rudi Koertzen of South Africa.
Brisbane will be Aleem's next port of call when he and Steve Bucknor of the West Indies take charge of the first Test between Australia and New Zealand from Nov 18. He then flies back to Bangladesh in December for that country's maiden series against India. He is set to stand in both Tests and two of the three ODIs.
Partnered by England's Jeremy Lloyds, Aleem will supervise the first Test at Dhaka from Dec 9. Mark Benson, the former England Test opener, makes his debut as a Test umpire when he joins Aleem for the second Test at Chittagong from Dec 16.
Aleem then takes charge of the first and third one-day matches at Chittagong (Dec 23) and Dhaka (Dec 27). After completing that assignment, Aleem flies away to South Africa where he will supervise the last two matches of the five-Test series against England along with Bucknor. The duo is to stand in the back-to-back Tests in Johannesburg from Jan 13 and Centurion from Jan 21.
