Dubai – The International Cricket Council named four World Cup winners in a 25-member match officials' team for next year's World Cup, setting the ball rolling with 73 days to go for the mega event.
Australia and New Zealand co-host the event from February 14 which ends with the final in Melbourne on March 29.
A total of 49 matches will be played across 14 venues, seven in New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington) and seven in Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney).
The five match referees – David Boon (Australia), Chris Broad (England), Jeff Crowe (New Zealand), Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama (both from Sri Lanka) – are from the elite panel.
The elite panel umpires are: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand), Bruce Oxenford (Australia), Ian Gould (England), Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Marais Erasmus (South Africa), Nigel Llong (England), Paul Reiffel (Australia), Richard Illingworth (England), Richard Kettleborough (England), Rod Tucker and Steve Davis (both Australia).
Eight umpires from the international panel will also officiate matches Ä Johan Cloete (South Africa), Simon Fry (Australia), Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand), Michael Gough (England), Ranmore Martinesz, Ruchira Palliyaguru (both Sri Lanka), Ravi Sundaram (India) and Joel Wilson (West Indies).
The World Cup winners in the line-up are Boon (1987), Dharmasena, Mahanama (1996) and Reiffel (1999).
The umpires were chosen by the selection panel of Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager - Cricket), Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Match Referee), David Lloyd (former player, coach, umpire and now television commentator) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (former elite panel umpire).
The specific match appointments will be announced in February after the warm-up matches, the ICC said. – Sapa-AFP