ICC Chief Executives' Committee to review role of ICC Match Referee

The ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) will review and evaluate the role, status and title of ICC Match Referee at its meeting in Fujairah in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday and Friday.

The role and title of the ICC Match Referee will be discussed following events of the Oval Test match between England and Pakistan last year.

The Oval Test events were discussed at length by the Executive Board at its last meeting held in Mumbai on 3 and 4 November last year and one of the recommendations approved by the Board was that management should prepare a paper for the CEC Meeting evaluating and reviewing the role of the Match Referee.

The members of the CEC will now be asked to consider whether the Match Referee should be responsible for making decisions on the termination of a match.

Their recommendation will be presented to the ICC Board for a final decision in March. ICC General Manager - Cricket, David Richardson, said this would form part of a wider discussion about the role of the Match Referee.

"It is often perceived that the Referee is an official of a type used in many other sports," said Mr Richardson.

"The reality is that the Match Referee is the 'Chief Executive' of an international cricket match who is responsible for liaising with the teams, the boards, the venue and other stakeholders to ensure the smooth running of a match," he said.

"It is therefore suggested that while the on-field role of the umpires shall not be undermined, the Match Referee should have the final say on the termination of a match," he added.

Also on the agenda of the CEC meeting are the range of commercial issues relating to forthcoming ICC events and an update on anti-doping in international cricket.

The CEC is made up of the Chief Executives or their equivalent from all ten ICC Full Members, as well as three Associate Members, the ICC Chief Executive and President and the Chairman of the ICC's Cricket Committee.

The following delegates are attending the CEC meeting, held at Al Aqah Beach Resort in Fujairah:

Malcolm Speed (ICC CEO)
Percy Sonn (ICC President)
Sunil Gavaskar (Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee)

James Sutherland (Australia)
Mahmudur Rahman (Bangladesh)
David Collier (England)
Niranjan Shah (India)
Tim Murdoch (New Zealand, for Martin Snedden)
Salim Altaf (Pakistan)
Gerald Majola (South Africa)
Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka)
Barry Thomas (West Indies)
Ozias Bvute (Zimbabwe)

John Cribbin (Hong Kong)
Ricardo Lord (Argentina)
Laurie Pieters (Namibia)
Tim May (President of FICA)

A media release will be issued following the conclusion of the meeting.