The ICC has announced the match officials for the upcoming , to be held from 15 to 30 January in New Zealand.

Jeff Crowe, Javagal Srinath and Brian Aldridge will be the match referees for the tournament, while the on-field umpires will be drawn from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires, and the ICC Associate and Affiliate International Umpires’ Panel.

International panel umpires include Gary Baxter, Owen Chirombe, Kumar Dharmasena, Nadeem Ghouri, Brian Jerling, Richard Kettleborough, Norman Malcolm, Bruce Oxenford, Nadir Shah and Shavir Tarapore.

Six umpires have been appointed from the Associate and Affiliate panel, including Niels Bagh, Paul Baldwin, Shahul Hameed, Bhudi Pradan, Sarika Prasad and Ian Ramage.

“The panel for this tournament represents an outstanding cross-section of international umpires,” said Vince van der Bijl, ICC Umpires’ and Referees’ Manager.

“The umpires from the international panel are among the most experienced officials currently standing in international cricket. The appointments also include a number of up-and-coming umpires from the Associate and Affiliate panel who will benefit tremendously from officiating and gaining experience in a global ICC event.

“The players will also benefit from the calibre of the match official with the game’s best young talent exposed to umpiring and refereeing of a high international standard.”

For all matches two on-field umpires and a reserve official will be appointed, while for televised matches a TV umpire will also form part of the playing control team.

On-field appointments for the opening round of competition matches:
15 Jan – India v Afghanistan (Bert Sutcliffe, Christchurch), Jerling and Shah
15 Jan – Zimbabwe v Canada (QEII, Christchurch), Ghauri and Malcolm
15 Jan – Pakistan v West Indies (Palmerston North), Kettleborough and Bagh
15 Jan – South Africa v Ireland (Queenstown), Dharmasena and Baldwin.

Further appointments will be announced in due course.