KARACHI: Richard Kettleborough of England and Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winner Kumar Dharmasena, two umpires who have been at the top of their profession during the ongoing tournament so far, were nominated on Saturday to stand as the on-field officials the Australia-India semi-final in Sydney next Thursday.

According to a media release of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Marais Erasmus of South Africa will be the TV umpire with former England Test spinner Richard Illingworth acting as the fourth umpire.

The second semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground will be supervised by ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle, the ex-Sri Lankan skipper.

The first semi-final, which will see New Zealand play South Africa, at the Eden Park in Auckland on Tuesday will have former England wicket-keeper Ian Gould and Rod Tucker of Australia as the on-field umpires; Nigel Llong of England has been named to monitor the TV replays with Australia’s Bruce Oxenford the fourth umpire and ex-Australian batsman and 1987 World Cup winner David Boon as the match referee.

The ICC will announce the appointments for the March 29 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the Sydney semi-final.

Pakistan’s Aleem Dar one of the finest adjudicators in the international game who had stood as on-field umpire in the finals of the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, is a surprise omission for the last-four postings. Usually, the ICC has a tendency to pick match officials for the title-decider from the panel supervising the semi-finals.

The 2007 final between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown (Barbados) was supervised by Aleem, Steve Bucknor of West Indies as on-field umpires with South Africa’s Rudi Koertzen as the TV replays’ official after all them officiated in the semi-finals.

Similarly, the 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium was played under the supervision of Aleem and Australia’s Simon Taufel as the on-field match officials and Gould behind the TV monitor after the trio had officiated in the semi-finals.

So there is every possibility that Pakistan won’t have any representation in the final if Aleem, who has stood in 171 One-day Internationals, is overlooked this time.

Published in Dawn March 22nd , 2015

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