ICC announces umpires, referees for World Cup prelims

Dubai, Feb 2 (PTI) England''s Steve Davis and Sri Lanka''sKumar Dharmasena will be the on-field umpires during theinaugural match of the ICC Cricket World Cup between India andBangladesh to be played in Mirpur on February 19.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today named theumpires and match referees appointed for the warm-up and groupstage matches for the February 19 to April 2 event to bejointly held by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

"Steve Davis of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpiresand Kumar Dharmasena of the Emirates International Panel ofICC Umpires and a former World Cup winner with Sri Lanka in1996, will stand in the tournament opener which will be playedbetween Bangladesh and India in Mirpur," the ICC said in astatement.

Billy Doctrove and Asad Rauf, both from the elite panel,will be the third and fourth umpires, respectively, whileRanjan Madugalle will be the match referee.

The 58-year-old Davis has so far umpired in 95 ODIs.

"If all goes according to plan, on March 9 in New Delhihe will become the 14th umpire to complete a century of ODIswhen he will officiate in the India-Netherlands match," theICC release said.

The 39-year-old Dharmasena, who played 31 Tests and 141ODIs as on off-spinner for Sri Lanka from 1993-2004, hasofficiated in 19 ODIs to date.

In the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996, Dharmasena was SriLanka''s second most successful bowler, along with ChamindaVaas, with six wickets while the table was topped by MuttiahMuralitharan who took seven wickets.

In the final against Australia at Lahore, Dharmasena hadmatch figures of 10-0-47-1 as Sri Lanka won by seven wicketswith 22 balls to spare.

Besides Davis and Dharmasena, others who will share theon-field responsibilities in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011include ICC Umpire of the Year 2009 and 2010, Aleem Dar,Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Daryl Harper, Tony Hill, Asoka deSilva, four-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, RodTucker, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford,Amish Saheba and Shahvir Tarapore.

The match referees for the event, besides Madugalle, areChris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Roshan Mahanama and Andy Pycroft.

Appointments for the knock-out matches will be announcedlater.