South Africa name national umpires

The appointments committee of Cricket South Africa and the United Cricket Board of South Africa have announced the names of members appointed to serve on the national first-class umpires panel, the emerging umpires panel as well as the match referees panel for the forthcoming season.

Zama 'Zed' Ndamane becomes the first black African representative to serve on the first-class panel and he is joined by two of his colleagues from the emerging panel, Earl Hendrickse and Dennis Smith.

Cricket South Africa's Operations Manager, Mike Gajjar, said: "We are delighted to announce the members to the various panels for the ensuing season. We have no doubt that the future of umpiring in South Africa is in a healthy state.

"The inclusion of Zed as the first Black African member shows that the policies, procedures and capacity building programs adopted five years ago have come to fruition."

Ian Howell and Brian Jerling retain their positions on the ICC international panel with Karl Hurter being the TV umpire on this panel.

First-class panel Murray Brown, Johan Cloete, Marais Erasmus, Shaun George, Earl Hendrickse, Ian Howell, Karl Hurter, Brian Jerling, Barry Lambson, Muhammed Nanabhay, Zed Ndamane, Gerrie Pienaar, Dennis Smith, Shahid Wadvalla

Emerging panel Kevin Adams, Adri Crafford, Christo Conradie, Roderick Ellis, Lourens Engelbrecht, Bernard Harrison, Walter Liebisch, Laurence Matroos, John Ostrom, Irvin Van Kerwel, Wessie Westraadt, Brad White, Lawrence Willemse

Match referees panel Tiffie Barnes, Wilf Diedricks, Devdas Govindjee, Rushdi Magiet, Enver Mall, Cyril Mitchley, Sagran Naidoo, Nic Pretorius