Bowden among 12 umpires for Super Six

New Zealand's Brent Bowden will stay on in South Africa after being appointed to the list of 12 umpires for the Super Six stage of the World Cup.

It is a prestigious appointment for Bowden who was New Zealand's only umpire appointed to the World Cup.

The group of 22 who stood in the first round have been reduced to 12 after an assessment was made of each umpire's performances in the group stages.

The 12 appointed are: Brent Bowden (New Zealand), Steve Bucknor (West Indies), Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka), Daryl Harper (Australia), Darrell Hair (Australia), Brian Jerling (South Africa), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), David Shepherd (England), Simon Taufel (Australia), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India), Peter Willey (England).

Only six of the eight members of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) elite panel have been included. Missing are: David Orchard (South Africa) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe).

The ICC's general manager-cricket, David Richardson said the appointments are a reflection of the high standard of performance seen during the group stage.

"All match officials have been assessed by the ICC during the group matches, and it is fair to say that the 12 nominated to stand in the Super Sixes are the umpires we regard to be in the best form.

"Their standard of decision making has been consistently high and has earned them the right to officiate in the later stages of the tournament."

All five full-time members of the ICC Match Referees' panel have been retained for the Super Six fixtures: Clive Lloyd, Ranjan Madugalle, Mike Procter, Wasim Raja, Gundappa Viswanath.

Bowden's match appointments are: Australia v Sri Lanka (tomorrow), Australia v Kenya (March 15). Bowden will be third umpire in the Zimbabwe-Kenya game on March 12.

New Zealand's match officials will be: v Zimbabwe (Koertzen and Hair), v Australia (de Silva and Bucknor), v India (Willey and Harper).