ICC announces match officials for forthcoming series

The International Cricket Council today announced the match officials for the series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa, West Indies v Pakistan, England v Bangladesh and the NatWest Series.

Darrell Hair and Steve Bucknor from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires will officiate on both Tests between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in April.

David Shepherd and Aleem Dar will stand in the first two Test matches of the West Indies v South Africa series with Simon Taufel and Billy Bowden standing in the final two matches.

Shepherd will be joined by Hair in the Caribbean for the two Test matches between West Indies and Pakistan.

One member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires will stand in all of the ODI matches during this period with Bowden and Dar taking charge of alternate matches in the NatWest Series in England which will see the hosts take on Australia and Bangladesh.

The Test series between England and Bangladesh will see Emirates Elite Panel umpire Daryl Harper officiate with two members of the Emirates International Panel.

Krishna Hariharan from India will officiate in his first Test match at Lord's in May. He has served at the TV Umpire for five Test matches and stood as an on-field umpire in 16 ODIs.

Tony Hill from New Zealand will stand with Harper in the second Test of the series. Like Hariharan, Hill has experienced 16 ODIs in the middle. He has also stood in one previous Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh at Hamilton in December 2001.

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