Umpires and Referees named for ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006

The ICC today announced the umpires and match referees that will officiate at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006, to be staged in Sri Lanka in February.

A 12-man team of umpires has been selected, including eight from the Emirates International Panel and also four from the Associate and Affiliate Panel.

And in a departure from previous ICC events involving Full Members, two referees from the Emirates Elite Panel - Roshan Mahanama and Alan Hurst - will cover the whole tournament rather than having an official at each match played.

The umpires from the Emirates International Panel are collectively full of experience with 62 Tests and 267 ODIs between them. Three of those umpires also come from the host country - Asoka de Silva, Peter Manuel and Tyron Wijewardena.

The experience of the eight International Panel members is a key aspect of the appointment process as they will act as mentors to Paul Baldwin, Roger Dill, Shahul Hameed and Trevor Henry, the Associate and Affiliate Panel umpires chosen for the tournament.

Dill, Hameed and Henry all stood in the ICC Trophy 2005 in Ireland in July with Hameed, from Indonesia, officiating in the final between Ireland and Scotland.

Since then, Dill and Baldwin stood in semi-final matches in October's ICC Intercontinental Cup in Namibia.

Reflecting on his appointment, Germany-based official Paul Baldwin said: "It is an honour to be asked to stand in such a prestigious tournament and getting the news is a fantastic early Christmas present for me.

"I have never been to Sri Lanka so it will be a real learning curve with new conditions and the potential of large crowds to get used to but having such experienced officials alongside the four of us from the Associate and Affiliate Panel will certainly be a great help."

Explaining the idea of using referees in a roving capacity, ICC Umpires and Referees Manager Chris Kelly said: "Referees do not need to see every incident that may occur in a match because it is the umpires that lay a charge under the ICC Code of Conduct and it is the referee's job to hear it.

"By doing things this way it means we are not tying up a large number of referees in one place at a traditionally busy time of the year in the cricket calendar and employing Alan and Roshan in this way will allow them the opportunity to see much more of each team during the tournament."

The Associate and Affiliate Panel was formed in April 2005 to provide umpires from the 86 members below Test level with a pathway towards officiating at the higher echelons of the game.

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006 will take place between February 5 and 19. 16 teams are scheduled to play 44 matches in 15 days at five different venues in Colombo.

Officials for the ICC U/19 CRICKET WORLD CUP 2006 (with country/region of origin in brackets)

Match Referees

Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka) - Emirates Elite Panel
Alan Hurst (Australia) - Emirates Elite Panel

Umpires

Paul Baldwin (Germany) - Associate & Affiliate Panel
Gary Baxter (New Zealand) - Emirates International Panel
Steve Davis (Australia) - Emirates International Panel
Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) - Emirates International Panel
Roger Dill (Bermuda) - Associate & Affiliate Panel
Billy Doctrove (West Indies) - Emirates International Panel
Nadeem Ghauri (Pakistan) - Emirates International Panel
Shahul Hameed (Indonesia) - Associate & Affiliate Panel
Krishna Hariharan (India) - Emirates International Panel
Trevor Henry (Ireland) - Associate & Affiliate Panel
Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka) - Emirates International Panel
Tyron Wijewardena (Sri Lanka) - Emirates International Panel