Dubai: Former New Zealand captain Jeff Crowe and Indian woman referee G S Lakshmi are among the match officials announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the league phase of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019 to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 18 October to 2 November.
Emirates ICC Elite Panel Match Referee Crowe has officiated in 488 international matches including three ICC Men’s T20 World Cups, while Lakshmi will become the first woman match referee to officiate in an ICC event. South Africa’s Gerhardus Piennar is the third match referee for the event while 12 umpires are in the list.
Piennar will officiate in the opening match of the tournament between Scotland and Singapore at the ICC Academy Oval 1 Ground, with Roland Black and Ahsan Raza as the umpires. In the second match at the same venue, between the Netherlands and Kenya, Piennar will team up with umpires Chris Brown and Ravindra Wimalarsiri.
Matches on the same day at the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi will see Lakshmi officiate along with Sam Nogajski and Sundaram Ravi for a match featuring Hong Kong and Ireland while Crowe, Alex Wharf and Allahudien Palekar will officiate in the Oman vs UAE match later in the day.
ICC Senior Manager – Umpires and Referees, Adrian Griffith: “We are committed to appointing the finest officials available for any match or tournament and have done our best to put this team together. This is an important tournament with six teams due to book places in next year’s T20 World Cup and I am confident our officials will do a fine job. I wish them all the best.”
The appointments for the semi-finals will be announced at the end of the league stage and those for the final will be finalised after the semi-finals.
Match officials at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019:
Match referees: Jeff Crowe, GS Lakshmi, Gerhardus Piennar
Umpires: Roland Black, Chris Brown, Lyndon Hannibal, Sam Nogajski, Ahmad Shah Pakteen, Allahudien Palekar, Rashid Riaz, Sundaram Ravi, Ahsan Raza, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Alex Wharf, Ravindra Wimalarsiri