The ICC’s policy to stick to 12 umpires from its Emirates Elite Panel of Umpires has denied India’s S. Ravi the opportunity to be appointed for the knock-out stage of the ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The ICC has named Rod Tucker (Australia), Richard Kettleborough (England) , Bruce Oxenford (Australia), Ian Gould (England), Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Steve Davis (Australia), Paul Reiffel (Australia), Marais Erasmus (South Africa), Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Richard Illingworth (England), Billy Bowden (New Zealand), Nigel Llong (England) as umpires (on-field, third and fourth) for the quarterfinals.
“We have received excellent reports from Simon Taufel (ICC Umpire Performance and Training Manager) about S. Ravi’s performance in the international matches leading to the World Cup and especially during the league stage of the World Cup. It’s quite obvious that the ICC has a policy to choose from its Elite Panel. If what we hear from the ICC is right, then S. Ravi will soon become part of the Elite Panel of Umpires,” said a BCCI official familiar with umpires-related developments.
The TNCA umpire, Ravi, was among the eight chosen from the International panel for World Cup duties. “The eight umpires from the international panel have been identified as emerging and talented match officials, who have already officiated at international level,” was the ICC’s statement at the time of his appointment.
The ICC has appointed four umpire coaches and the former ICC best umpire award winner, Australian, Taufel is the coach for Indian umpires. Others are Peter Manuel (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan), Denis Burns (UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe) and David Levens (Australia, New Zealand, West Indies)
The 48-year-old Ravi was the third umpire for the inaugural match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Christchurch on February 14. He was the on-field umpire for the match between England and Scotland, Pakistan and UAE and England and Afghanistan, third umpire for the match between Pakistan and the West Indies and New Zealand and Australia. He was also the fourth umpire for two more matches.
The other three Indian umpires in the ICC International Panel are: Vineet Kulkarni (on-field — Maharashtra), C, Shamshuddin (3rd umpire — Hyderabad) and Anil Chaudhary (3rd umpire — Delhi).
