ICC announces match officials for ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier

Dubai, Feb.4 (ANI): The ICC has announced the match officials for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2010 which takes place in the United Arab Emirates from 9 to 13 February,

David Jukes and Ishtiaq Ahmed will be the referees for the tournament, while the on-field umpire responsibilities will be shared between Aleem Dar of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Buddhi Pradhan, Sarika Prasad, Jeff Luck, Paul Baldwin and Subhash Modi of the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires' Panel.

Aleem, who was named Umpire of the Year at the LG ICC Awards 2009, will be performing the mentor's role during the tournament which will provide an excellent opportunity to the Associate and Affiliate panel umpires to learn from his experience in a tournament environment. This is part of the ICC's ongoing commitment to developing international-standards match officials.

On-field appointments for the group stage and Super Four stage:

Group stage

9 Feb - Scotland v USA (1000-1300), Abu Dhabi - Sarika Prasad and Paul Baldwin, Jeff Luck (third)

9 Feb - Ireland v Afghanistan (1200-1500), Dubai - Buddhi Pradhan and Subhash Modi, Aleem Dar (third)

9 Feb - Kenya v UAE (1400-1700), Abu Dhabi - Paul Baldwin and Jeff Luck, Sarika Prasad (third)

9 Feb - Netherlands v Canada (1600-1900), Dubai - Buddhi Pradhan and Aleem Dar, Subhash Modi (third)

10 Feb - Afghanistan v Scotland (1000-1300), Abu Dhabi - Buddhi Pradhan and Jeff Luck, Paul Baldwin (third)

10 Feb - Canada v Kenya (1200-1500), Dubai - Subhash Modi and Sarika Prasad, Aleem Dar (third)

10 Feb - USA v Ireland (1400-1700), Abu Dhabi - Paul Baldwin and Jeff Luck, Buddhi Pradhan (third)

10 Feb - UAE v Netherlands (1600-1900), Dubai - Aleem Dar and Sarika Prasad, Subhash Modi (third)

11 Feb - UAE v Canada (1000-1300), Abu Dhabi - Sarika Prasad and Subhash Modi, Buddhi Pradhan (third)

11 Feb - Afghanistan v USA (1200-1500), Dubai - Jeff Luck and Paul Baldwin, Aleem Dar (third)

11 Feb - Netherlands v Kenya (1400-1700), Abu Dhabi - Buddhi Pradhan and Subhash Modi, Sarika Prasad (third)

11 Feb - Ireland v Scotland (1600-1900), Dubai - Aleem Dar and Paul Baldwin, Jeff Luck (third)

Super Fours

12 Feb - A1 v B2 (1200-1500), Dubai, Buddhi Pradhan and Sarika Prasad, Jeff Luck (third)

12 Feb - B1 v A2 (1600-1900), Dubai, Aleem Dar and Subhash Modi, Paul Baldwin (third)

13 Feb - B1 v A1 (1200-1600), Dubai, Buddhi Pradhan, Paul Baldwin, Sarika Prasad (third)

13 Feb - B2 v A2 (1600-1900), Dubai, Aleem Dar and Jeff Luck, Subhash Modi (third),

13 Feb - Final (2000-2300), Dubai, tbc

Schedule of warm-up matches

7 Feb - Ireland v Canada (1000-1300), Sharjah, ECB appointments

7 Feb - Scotland v Kenya (1000-1300), Abu Dhabi, ECB appointments

7 Feb - Afghanistan v Sharjah XI (1400-1700), Sharjah, ECB appointments

7 Feb - USA v UAE (1400-1700), Abu Dhabi, ECB appointments

The ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier involves two groups of four teams with Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan and the USA making up Group A while Kenya, the Netherlands, Canada and the UAE will fight it out for supremacy of Group B.

The two finalists will win the right to play in the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 which runs from 30 April to 16 May in Barbados, St Lucia and Guyana. The winner of the qualifier will join South Africa and India in Group C, while the losing finalist will be added to Group D which includes the West Indies and England.

Ireland, Kenya, Canada, the Netherlands, Afghanistan and Scotland have directly qualified for the qualifier on the basis of their ODI status while the UAE and the USA have been specially invited by the ICC to participate as wildcards in the tournament.

A total of 17 matches will be played over five days with Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium hosting six group stage matches and Dubai International Cricket Stadium at Dubai Sports City staging 11 matches, including six group stage matches, four Super Four matches and the final. Admission for spectators to all of the matches in the tournament is free of charge.

The eight competing sides will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Ireland, who defeated Full Members Pakistan and Bangladesh at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, and the Netherlands, who beat England on the opening night of the ICC World Twenty20 2009, and surprise some of the world's strongest teams at a major ICC event.

Among the players expected to star at the qualifying event are Ireland captain William Porterfield, who is regarded as one of the leading batsman outside of the Test-playing countries, Netherlands all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate who was instrumental in his side beating England last year and Scotland's Kyle Coetzer, who has played county cricket in England for Durham.

There will be strong local hopes for the UAE, who narrowly missed out on qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the 50-over showpiece event of world cricket, while there is expected to be huge support for the Afghanistan team from the large Afghan community living in the UAE. There is also the enticing prospect of Afghanistan's senior side facing USA in an international cricket event for the first time for supporters to look forward to.(ANI)