KARACHI: India’s Sundaram Ravi will officiate as the on-field umpire in both Tests of the upcoming series between New Zealand and Pakistan.

The 50-year-old from Bangalore, who made his Test umpiring debut at Chittagong in Oct 2013 when Bangladesh hosted New Zealand, will stand alongside experienced Ian Gould of England in the first Test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch from next Thursday (Nov 17).

Australia’s Simon Fry, who is currently officiating in only his third Test in the final match of the Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka series in Harare, will be the TV umpire during the Christchurch Test.

Fry, 50, will then join Ravi in the middle for the second Test at Seddon Park in Hamilton, beginning from Nov 25, with Gould monitoring TV replays.

Ravi, who is due to stand in his 16th Test, has previously supervised three Tests involving Pakistan, all against Sri Lanka — the final two matches of the 2013-14 series in Dubai and Sharjah, respectively and the game at Colombo’s P. Sara Oval in June 2015.

Gould, who is presently Fry’s on-field colleague at the Harare Sports Club, is the senior man to be nominated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the New Zealand-Pakistan Test battles. The former England wicket-keeper, who played in 18 One-day Internationals including the 1983 World Cup held in England, has been on the ICC Elite Panel since 2008 and thus far officiated as the on-field official in 54 Tests, 114 One-day Internationals and 37 Twenty20 Internationals.

In contrast to the 59-year-old Gould, Ravi has been on on-field duty in 27 One-day Internationals and 18 Twenty20 Internationals, while Fry has stood in 29 one-dayers and 11 T20 fixtures at the international level.

Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson has been named as the match referee for the coming two Tests in New Zealand by the ICC.

Published in Dawn November 10th, 2016