ICC announces 20-member squad of match officials for T20 World Cup 2021

The ICC has announced the appointment of 16 umpires and four-match referees for the Round 1 and Super 12 stages of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. The selection of a 20-strong group effectively means that, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be neutral umpires for all matches of the 16-team tournament, running from 17 October to 14 November.

Three of the 16 umpires – Aleem Dar, Marais Erasmus, and Rod Tucker – will be officiating in their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The first match of the tournament, between Oman and Papua New Guinea on 17 October, will be officiated by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena, who was one of the on-field umpires for the final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, alongside New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney. Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee, with Richard Kettleborough the TV umpire and Ahsan Raza the fourth official.

The rematch of the 2016 final between England and the West Indies – a Super 12 Group A clash – will be overseen by Dar and Erasmus, with Australia’s David Boon the match referee and Chris Brown on TV duty. The officiating personnel for the semi-finals and final of the tournament will be named in due course.

Full list of match officials for T20 World Cup 2021

Match Referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Javagal Srinath.

Umpires: Chris Brown, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nitin Menon, Ahsan Raza, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Rod Tucker, Joel Wilson, Paul Wilson.

The T20 World Cup 2021 is all set to kick off in Oman and the UAE from October 17 wherein the qualifiers will be played in Oman while the Super 12 stage will see the light of the day in the UAE. BCCI has the hosting rights of the tournament as it was earlier scheduled to be played in India but was shifted to the Gulf nation owing to the situation of COVID-19 back in India. The finals of the mega event will be played on November 14 and the West Indies team stand as the defending champions of the T20 World Cup 2021.