Aleem to umpire key World Cup encounter

Pakistan's Aleem Dar has been allotted three World Cup matches as field umpire including the crucial clash between the oldest cricketing rivals Australia and England on March 2.

Nadeem Ghauri, Pakistan's other representative on the ICC's panel of international umpires, will stand in two matches on the field.

According to details available with Dawn, both Aleem and Nadeem will officiate in three matches each as TV replays umpires during the mega event, which gets under way in less than two weeks' time with the opening ceremony in Cape Town on Feb 8.

Both Pakistanis, who are among the 25 umpires nominated by International Cricket Council (ICC) for the World Cup, are scheduled to leave for South Africa on Thursday (Jan 30).

Aleem will supervise the Bangladesh-Canada encounter on Feb 11 alongwith Sri Lanka's Asoka de Silva with Brent Bowden of New Zealand acting as the TV umpire. Clive Lloyd, under whose astute leadership West Indies won the World Cup titles in 1975 and 1979, is the match referee of this day-night encounter in Durban.

Aleem's field partner in the India versus Namibia match in Pietermaritzburg on Feb 23 will be South Africa's Brian Jerling with Tyronne Wijewardena of Sri Lanka monitoring the TV replays. Wasim Raja, representing Pakistan on the six-man panel of match referees, will oversee the proceedings.

Steve Bucknor, world's most popular umpiring figure nicknamed 'Slow Death' because of his leisurely style when lifting that dreaded index finger to seal a batsman's fate, will stand alongside Aleem when England meet holders Australia in Port Elizabeth.

Wasim Raja and Zimbabwe's Kevin Barbour have been nominated match referee and third umpire respectively for this March 2 match.

Aleem will be the TV umpire in the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh match in Pietermaritzburg on Feb 14, Australia versus Holland tie in Potchefstroom on Feb 20 and South Africa-Canada encounter in East London on Feb 27.

Nadeem, meanwhile, will be the field umpire along with Arani Jayaprakash of India when Canada take on Kenya in the day-night tie in Cape Town on Feb 15. Barbour and Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka will act as TV umpire and match referee, respectively.

Canada will be meeting Nadeem again on the field when they play West Indies in Centurion on Feb 23. Australia's Daryl Harper is the other on-field umpire of this match while Jerling (TV umpire) and Indian Gundappa Viswanath (match referee) are the other officials.

Nadeem will act as TV umpire in the following three matches: India v Holland at Paarl on Feb 12, Sri Lanka v Canada at Paarl on Feb 19 and Namibia v Holland at Bloemfontein on March 3.

After the 42-match preliminary round of the World Cup, the ICC will trim down the number of match officials for the Super Six stage, the semifinals and the final.

The ICC had already announced the panel of officials for the World Cup late last year. Besides the eight-man elite panel of umpires and five referees, the game's governing body nominated 11 members of the ICC's international panel of umpires and the former South African wicket-keeper/batsman Denis Lindsay as the additional referee to counter the heavy workload of matches.

In addition, two first umpires from the host nation, Ian Howell and Shahid Wadvalla, beside participating Associate Member countries' umpires will be acting as fourth officials of the group matches.

Rockie D'Mello (Kenya), Michael Henry (Canada), Chris Pickett (Holland) and Jeff Luck of Namibia are the representatives of the non-Test-playing nations at the World Cup. Meanwhile, the World Cup organizing committee have planned to use special coins for the toss at the start of each of the 54 matches.

Every match will have a separate coin, weighing one ounce, with the face of South African President Thabo Mbeki appearing on one side with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 logo, the names of the two opposing teams, the date and match venue on the other.

Elite panel: Steve Bucknor (West Indies), Daryl Harper (Australia), Rudi Koertzen, Dave Orchard (both from South Africa), David Shepherd (England), Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka), Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India)

International panel: Darrell Hair, Simon Taufel (both from Australia), Aleem Dar, Nadeem Ghauri (both from Pakistan), Arani Jayaprakash (India), Peter Willey, Neil Mallender (both from England), Brent Bowden (New Zealand), Brian Jerling (South Africa), Tyronne Wijewardena (Sri Lanka) and Kevin Barbour (Zimbabwe)

Panel of match referees: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka), Clive Lloyd (West Indies), Wasim Raja (Pakistan), Gundappa Viswanath (India), Mike Procter and Denis Lindsay (both from South Africa)