2007 Cricket World Cup umpires

The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprises nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included is Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel comprises seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as West Indies' team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who was appearing in his fifth final in a row - extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.

Umpires

uper 8 stage appointments

Umpires:
Only umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires officiated from the Super Eight stage of the competition until its conclusion.

Referees:
Chris Broad, Mike Procter, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle were chosen to officiate the matches from the Super Eight stage onwards.

This was Aleem Dar's first appointment in a World Cup final, and prior to the match had said that it was to be the most important game of his career to date. Steve Bucknor, on the other hand, stood in his fifth consecutive World Cup final, extending his previous record of four in a row, though this competition held a special note, having been held in his native West Indies. He said that this appointment was a dream come true. [cite web | url=http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc-media/content/story/292531.html | title=ICC announces umpire and referee appointments for ICC Cricket World Cup final | publisher=ICC | author=Brian Murgatroyd | date=2007-04-27 | accessdate=2007-05-25]

Criticism of umpires

Whilst the majority of the tournament passed without any major criticism of the umpires or errors on their part, the Final was wrought with confusion and was described as a "farcical finish" to the competition. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6599659.stm | title=Gilchrist starts in Aussie cup win | publisher=BBC | author=Oliver Brett | date=2007-04-28 | accessdate=2007-05-25]

Rain affected the start of the match, reducing the contest to 38 overs a side, and further rain reduced the Sri Lankan innings to 36 overs. With Australia almost certain victors with just 3 overs to go, bad light began to affect play and the umpires seemed to offer the Sri Lankans the opportunity to leave the field for bad light. Both teams assumed this would have granted Australia victory that evening, but the they were soon informed that if the light improved the match would have to continue; and if not then the final 3 overs would be played the next day. Sri Lanka's batsmen eventually came out and played out the final 3 overs regardless, and Australia were eventually crowned champions.

Match referee Jeff Crowe revealed a "communication breakdown" between himself, on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor and third umpire Rudi Koertzen was to blame for the mix-up, [cite web | url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/292771.html | title=Crowe takes blame | publisher=Cricinfo | date=2007-04-28 | accessdate=2007-05-25] which overlooked Law 21 of the laws of cricket. The law states that, in a One Day International, providing a minimum of 20 overs have been played then a result can be reached using the Duckworth-Lewis system.

The ICC issued a statement apologising for occurrence of the incident, but said that none of those involved would be sacked. [cite web | url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/292851.html | title=Speed apologises for light chaos | publisher=Cricinfo | author=Andrew Miller | date=2007-04-29 | accessdate=2007-05-25] Two months later it was announced that all five officials involved - the two on field umpires, the third and fourth umpires and the match referee - were to be reprimanded by suspension to prevent them officiating in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship. [cite web | url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/twenty20wc/content/current/story/299277.html | title=World Cup officials slammed by ICC | publisher=Cricinfo | date=2007-06-22 | accessdate=2007-06-22]

Notes and references