DUBAI, June 11 (Reuters) – England’s Nigel Llong has been
selected to join the International Cricket Council’s elite panel
of umpires, the ICC said on Monday.
Llong, who played 68 first-class matches for county side
Kent as a batsman and off-spin bowler between 1990 and 1998,
replaces the recently-retired Billy Doctrove in the 12-man group
of the game’s leading officials.
The 43-year-old has umpired in 12 Tests, 55 One-Day
Internationals (ODIs) and 16 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is);
and had been a member of the ICC’s international panel of
umpires since 2002.
Llong and the other 11 members of the elite panel, along
with Australia’s Bruce Oxenford, have all been chosen to
officiate in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka in
September and October, the ICC release added.
Oxenford, 52, a member of the ICC’s international panel of
umpires, has officiated in eight Tests, 34 ODIs and 11 T20Is.
Sri Lanka’s Ranjan Madugalle and Jeff Crowe from New Zealand
will serve as match referees for the men’s tournament in Sri
Lanka, which involves the top 12 international teams, with
Graeme Labrooy of Sri Lanka overseeing the women’s tournament
between the eight leading sides.
The appointments were made by the ICC’s umpiring committee,
made up of its head of cricket operations and Chief
Executive-elect David Richardson, Madugalle, David Lloyd – the
ex-England batsman, coach, first-class umpire and now television
commentator – and India’s Srinivas Venkataraghavan, the former
India captain and elite panel umpire.
The members of the 12-man elite panel are Billy Bowden,
Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Ian
Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Asad Rauf,
Simon Taufel and Rod Tucker.
The ICC World Twenty20 will take place from Sept. 18-Oct. 7.
(Writing by Brian Murgatroyd; Editing by Ossian Shine)
