LONDON, Oct 5: West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove, the "other" umpire at the centre of Pakistan's forfeited Test match at The Oval, has been omitted from next week's ICC Champions Trophy in India, along with his elite panel colleague, Darrell Hair.

Hair's absence was confirmed last week, officially for security reasons, but an ICC spokesman insisted that there was "nothing sinister" about the omission of Doctrove, even though they are the only two umpires from the ten-man panel to have been overlooked.

"There were only going to be eight umpires," the spokesman told BBC Sport. "It doesn't mean Billy Doctrove is a bad umpire."

While Hair is one of the game's longest serving officials, Doctrove, from Dominica, is relatively new, having stood in just nine matches since May 2000, seven of which have come in the last 18 months.

Champions Trophy match referees: Mike Procter (RSA), Jeff Crowe (NZL), Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

Champions Trophy match umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Asad Rauf (PAK), Mark Benson (ENG), Billy Bowden (NZL), Steve Bucknor (WIS), Daryl Harper (AUS), Rudi Koertzen (RSA), Simon Taufel (AUS) —Agencies