January 12, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 21, 1427

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LAHORE, Jan 11: Pakistan’s Aleem Dar, a prominent international umpire at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Elite Panel, was honoured by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for officiating a record number of international games, here on Thursday.

In an impressive ceremony, the PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf honoured Aleem with a cash prize of Rs 100,000.

The chairman said the PCB, under its policy of recognising professionalism and excellence, acknowledged the success that Aleem had achieved in his career as an international umpire of global repute, adding that this example would set precedence besides being a source of motivation for other adjudicators to emulate Aleem.

Aleem, having officiated a record 37 Test matches from Pakistan and 75 One-day Internationals (at the Sub-continent level), thanked the PCB for acknowledging his feat, saying he attained the position with the grace of Allah The Almighty. He added that hard work and constant focus on the task always gives one good results.

Aleem made his one-day umpiring debut in 2000 in a match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Gujranwala. He supervised the first Test in 2003 between Bangladesh and England at Dhaka.

Within one year after his Dhaka appearance, Aleem was elevated to the ICC’s Elite Panel.

He also stood as an umpire in the 2003 World Cup, two ICC Champions Trophies, held in England (2004) and India (2006), besides supervising the Super Series between Australia and World XI in 2005.

Aleem, due to his fine performance at the highest international level, has been nominated for the ICC Umpire of the Year Award in the last three years -- 2004, 2005 and 2006. He has also played domestic first-class cricket for Lahore and Allied Bank.

Pakistan is represented by five umpires at the ICC level and 10 umpires at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) level, Aleem is one of the best and top-ranked umpires in the ICC elite panel as per rating.

In a recent correspondence with the PCB, the ICC Umpires and Referees Manager Doug Cowie acknowledged, “Aleem is going very well in his Ashes series with plenty of focus on him; he handles the pressure very well now and he is becoming one of our senior umpires.”

Former Test umpire Khizar Hayat, currently acting as the PCB Umpires Manager, with other umpires Siddique Khan and Mian Aslam, also attended the function.