Umpire Adrian Holdstock during the 1st KFC T20 International match between South Africa and England held at Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, South Africa on 27 November 2020 Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

Two South African umpires to stand in Cricket World Cup

Adrian Holdstock and Marais Erasmus will make the trip to India as match officials after being chosen to stand in the World Cup.

by James Richardson

08-09-2023 11:13

in Cricket World Cup 2023

The International Cricket Council has announced the 20 match officials for the League Round of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India, including two South Africans.

Adrian Holdstock and Marais Erasmus will make the trip to India as match officials.

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The match officials are made up of 16 umpires and four match referees.

The entire Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and four ICC Emerging Umpire Panel members will stand in the tournament.

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Two South Africans among Cricket World Cup umpires

Umpires: Chris Brown
Kumar Dharmasena
Marais Erasmus
Chris Gaffaney
Michael Gough
Adrian Holdstock
Richard Illingworth
Richard Kettleborough
Nitin Menon
Ahsan Raza
Paul Reiffel
Sharfuddoula Ibne Shaid
Rod Tucker
Alex Wharf
Joel Wilson
Paul Wilson

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The experienced list includes three of the four umpires who were appointed for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 final at Lord’s – Dharmasena, Erasmus and Tucker – with only Aleem Dar missing, who stepped down from the Elite Panel in March of this year.

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The Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees is represented at the event by a quartet of former international cricketers, namely Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.

Srinath will take charge of the tournament opener between the last event’s finalists, England and New Zealand, on 5 October in Ahmedabad. Menon and Dharmasena will be the standing umpires, with Paul Wilson as TV umpire and Saikat taking on fourth umpire duties.

The officials have been named for the entirety of the League segment, with the selections for the semi-finals and final of the tournament to be named in due course.

What they said

Organisers clearly hope for a tournament free of incident and packed with entertainment.

Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager – Cricket, said: “To deliver an event of this magnitude you require high performing individuals at every level. The ICC Elite panel of umpires, referees, and emerging group of umpires involved will bring immense skills, experience and world class standards to this World Cup. We are delighted with the group that we have assembled for this tournament”.

“The ICC Cricket Operations department takes great pride and effort in operating a robust and meritocratic selection procedure with the help of our Member Boards.

“Our competitive pathway system continues to see the development and emergence of high-quality match officials across the game. We are pleased that four members of the ICC Emerging Umpire Panel have earned the opportunity to be part of this showcase event. We also wish them and all the other match officials involved all the very best for the tournament.”

Sean Easey, ICC Manager – Umpires and Referees said: “We are pleased to announce the match officials who will be overseeing the biggest ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ever. This group is the best from around the world and will be ready to perform a challenging job, with the eyes of the global cricketing community focussed on the event.