Rakesh Jolly among 35 appointed Match Referee

Chandigarh, Oct 17 (UNI) Former Haryana Ranji Trophy all-rounder Rakesh Jolly is among 35, including three from Delhi, who have been appointed as match referees by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 2006-2007.

Jolly's first assignment as Match Referee is the Vinoo Mankad North Zone Under-19 Cricket Tournament match between Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in New Delhi on October 20. S Venkataraghavan and J Srinath have been appointed as officials.

Superintendent in the Central Customs and Excise Department, 48-year-old Jolly will also work as Match Referee in the Delhi vs Punjab (October 22), Himachal Pradesh vs Delhi (Oct 24), Delhi vs Haryana (Oct 26) and Jammu and Kashmir vs Delhi (Oct 28).

Jolly has played over 40 Ranji Trophy matches and other important domestic cricket tournaments with distinction. Jolly is also a keen golfer and he is the only Haryana cricketer appointed Match Referee.

Eight cricketers from North Zone, including three from Delhi and District Cricket Association, who have played over 25 Ranji Trophy matches, were appointed match after they attended a two-day workshop in Bangalore recently.

The appointment of Match Referees as the BCCI is in the process of streamlining the umpiring system and also the match referees' appointment. There is proposal to appoint Match Referees on retainership basis for the domestic cricketing season based on the Board's assessment of working of Match Referee. The Match Referee will also play the role of Talent Resources Development Officer while officiating in the age group tournaments.

Eight former Ranji players from North Zone, seven from Central Zone, six from East Zone, seven from West Zone and seven from South Zone were invited for a two-day workshop at the National Cricket Academy at Bangalore on October 10 and 11. After completion of the workshop they would be appointed match referees for all important domestic cricket tournament, including Ranji Trophy.

Those appointed are: North Zone: Gurucharan Singh, Manu Nayyar, Bhaskar Pillai (all DDCA), Rakesh Jolly (Haryana), Arun Sharma, Balbir Singh (Punjab), ShaktiSingh (HP), Col Chenmaya Sharma (SSCB).

Centrral Zone: Sunil Chaturvedi, Vijay Chopra (UP), Anand Patel (Madhya Pradesh), Padam Shastri (Rajasthan), Vijendra Yadav (Railways), Hemant Wasu, Raju Pankule (Vidharbha).

East Zone: Raju Mukherjee, Sambaram Banerjee (Calcutta), Harmohan Praharaj (Orissa), Sumit Dutta (Assam), Sanjit paul (Tripura), Sunil Singh (Jharkhand).

West Zone: Sanjay Patil, Kiran Mokashi (Mumbai), Anil Patel, Mukund Parmar (Gujarat), Madhav Ranade (Maharashtra), JN Jadeja, Rajendra Jadeja (Saurashtra).

South Zone: B Raghunath, BK Sadashiv (Karnataka), Rajesh Yadav (Hyderabad), Narayanan Kutty (Kerala), GJJ Raju (Andhra), CR Vijaraghavan and D Vasu (TNCA).

Officials: S Venkataraghavan and J Srinath.

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