T20 World Cup 2021: ICC announces the match officials for the final
The date, time, and teams for the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 are set. New Zealand will be taking on their Trans-Tasman rivals Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on November 14. The final is expected to be a classic affair between these two nations, which have shared an intense rivalry and history, both on and off the field.
On Friday, November 12, two days prior to the big match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the list of match officials. Among the announced names, there were two on-field umpires, one TV or third umpire, a match referee, and finally, one fourth umpire. The officials were chosen from the ICC’s elite group of match officials who have themselves worked quite hard through this tournament and performed their duties incredibly well.
For the on-field duties, ICC has chosen the South African Marais Erasmus and the former England cricketer and now an elite umpire, Richard Kettleborough. Erasmus stood as an on-field umpire in the first semi-final between England and New Zealand while Kettleborough officiated in the second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan.
Some stats on the experience of the officials selected for the T20 World Cup final
For the role of the TV umpire, also known as the third umpire, the Indian umpire Nitin Menon was chosen. Former Sri Lankan spinner, Kumar Dharmasena, who stood as an umpire during the 2019 Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s has been chosen to be the fourth umpire for this game.
His fellow Sri Lankan, Ranjan Madugalle, who has experience of being a match referee in 124 T20Is from a total of 692 international matches, has been chosen to be the match referee for this game. Madugalle was also the match referee for the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2019.
Speaking of the experience of the on-field umpires, Richard Kettleborough has been an umpire in 99 Tests, 139 ODIs, and 40 T20Is. These numbers include the games in which he has been the TV umpire. Erasmus, on the other hand, was one of the umpires in the ICC CWC Final 2019 at Lords. He has officiated as an umpire in 105 Tests, 157 ODIs, and 50 T20Is.
