ICC announces Emirates Elite Panel appointments for England v Australia and Sri Lanka v West Indies

The International Cricket Council today announced the Emirates Elite Panel appointments for the Ashes series, the NatWest Challenge and the Sri Lanka v West Indies series.

Aleem Dar and Rudi Koertzen from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires will take charge of the opening Ashes Test match at Lord's on 21 July 2005. These two officials will also stand in the second Test before Billy Bowden and Steve Bucknor take up the role for the third and fourth Tests. The on-field officials in the final Test will be Bowden and Koertzen. Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee throughout the series.

The South African umpire Koertzen will stand in all three NatWest Challenge matches between England and Australia that precede the Ashes while Roshan Mahanama will be match referee. The third of these matches will be the final international appointment for English umpire David Shepherd.

Simon Taufel from the Emirates Elite Panel will stand in both Tests of the Sri Lanka v West Indies series. Mike Procter will referee this series and the One-Day International matches between these two sides and India which follow it. Taufel and Daryl Harper will stand in alternate matches in this ODI series.

For full details of the umpires and referees for these series visit the umpires and referees section of the ICC website .