Another feather for Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat on his wings when the international cricket umpire and a former first-class player of Bangladesh was selected as one of the match Officials for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Saikat, who is experienced with officiating 100 international matches in men's cricket competitions including ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in 2023, earned the feat as first Bangladeshi umpire after being enlisted in the Elite Panel of ICC umpires before ICC announced his name among 16 others as World Cup 2024 match officials.
According to announcement of the ICC, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the 26 match officials for the first round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the United States of America (USA) and the West Indies.
Twenty umpires and six match referees will officiate the ninth edition of the event, which will see 20 teams playing 55 matches over 28 days, across nine locations in the biggest ICC T20 World Cup ever.
The experienced group of umpires includes the 2023 winner of the David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year at the annual ICC Awards, Richard Illingworth, as well as Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel, who were appointed for the final of the 2022 edition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.
It is an exciting time for Jayaraman Madanagopal, Sam Nogajski, Allahudien Paleker, Rashid Riaz and Asif Yaqoob, who will make their senior men’s event debuts.
The match referees’ team sees the return of Ranjan Madugalle, who oversaw the 2022 Final and also features the format’s most capped referee, Jeff Crowe, with 175 T20Is and Andrew Pycroft, who is one match away from 150 T20Is.
The Match Officials at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup are:
Umpires: Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Allahudien Paleker, Richard Kettleborough, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, Ahsan Raza, Rashid Riaz, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Shahid Saikat, Rodney Tucker, Alex Wharf, Joel Wilson and Asif Yaqoob.
Match referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.
ICC General Manager – Cricket, Wasim Khan, said: “We are pleased to announce our team of match referees and umpires for the historic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
“Within the selected cohort, we have a compliment of experienced match officials and other high performing members who have been recognized for their strong and consistent performances. The throughput from the pathway programme will continue to see the development and emergence of high-quality match officials across the game.
“With 20 teams and 55 matches played over 28 days, this will be the biggest T20 World Cup ever and we are proud of the team we have assembled. We are confident that our officials will perform strongly.
“We wish them all the best of luck for what promises to be a very exciting tournament.”
