LAHORE: ICC match referee Sir Richie Richardson arrived in Lahore on Saturday to supervise the Indepe­ndence Cup Twenty20 series between Pakistan and World XI.

Former West Indies captain Richardson, 55, will officiate the three-match series to be staged here at the Gaddafi Stadium from Sept 12 to 15.

On his arrival in the provincial capital, the ex-right handed Test batsman in a short message issued to media said, “I just arrived in Pakistan for the Independence Cup between Pakistan and the ICC World XI. I am very much excited to be here and participating in this special event. It is a long period of over 20 years that I am in Pakistan and I am very much excited.

“I would like to congratulate the PCB and the ICC for this event and hopefully it will help to start international cricket in Pakistan,” Antigua-born Richardson, who featured in 86 Tests and 224 ODIs from 1983 to 1996, added.

Richardson, who was included in the ICC match referee panel in 2016, officiated his first Test the same year when England played Pakistan in the first Test of the four-match series at Lord’s.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2017