The International Cricket Council (ICC) named on Wednesday the Match Officials for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024. The tournament will take place in South Africa from January 19 to February 11, 2024. “An experienced roster of 16 Umpires and four Match Referees have been selected to officiate the competition, overseeing a total of 41 matches that will feature the best young cricketers on the planet,” the ICC said in a clear statement. It has also been revealed who will be the match officials for the first games in the group stage. The first game, on January 19, between hosts South Africa and West Indies, another former U19 champion, will be run by a skilled team. Roland Black (Ireland) and Gazi Sohel (Bangladesh) will be the on-field umpires for the game. Black will be a referee for the third U19 Men’s CWC, and Sohel has been an international player since 2012.
Graeme Labrooy, a former Sri Lankan cricket player, will be the Match Referee for the game. This will be his sixth time at the famous event. For the hosts’ first game, TV Umpire Rashid Riaz Waqar from Pakistan and Fourth Umpire Bismillah Jan Shinwari from Afghanistan will round out the officials.
India, the reigning champions, will play Bangladesh in Bloemfontein the next day, January 20. It will be a repeat of the exciting final in 2020. Donovan Koch from Australia and Nigel Duguid from the West Indies will be in charge of that game. Langton Rusere from Zimbabwe will be the fourth umpire, and Allahudien Palekar and Shaid Wadvalla from South Africa will be the TV umpire and match referee, respectively. Palekar and Bongani Jele are two umpires from the host country who will be at the U19 Men’s CWC. Both of them have worked as international officials for more than ten years. Jele and KNA Padmanabhan, who is from India, will both be on-field referees for the first game between Pakistan and Afghanistan in East London. The Match Referee for the match will be Narayanan Kutty from India. The TV Umpire will be Phil Gillespie from Australia, and the fourth umpire will be Forster Mutizwa from Zimbabwe.
In other news, the first match will be between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe on January 21 at Kimberley. On-field officials for the game are Mike Burns and Patrick Gustard. Masudur Rahman Mukul of Bangladesh will be the TV umpire, Faisal Khan Afridi of Pakistan will be the Fourth Umpire, and Wayne Noon of England will be the Match Referee.
You can find a list of Match Official appointments for group stage games here on the ICC’s Online Media Zone. Appointments for later rounds will be made public when they are ready. ICC Manager for Umpires and Referees Sean Easey said, “The U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup is a very important event in the ICC calendar.” It was announced that Match Officials would be working at the event. For a long time, it has been seen as a way for up-and-coming athletes to make a name for themselves. For many of the players competing this year, it is their first time fighting on a world stage.
In the same way, it is a significant event in the growth of the umpire pathway. A group of motivated and diverse foreign match officials has been chosen, and I’m sure they will do a great job. I hope everything goes well for them in South Africa.
Umpires: Bismillah Jan Shinwari, Donovan Koch, Phil Gillespie, Gazi Sohel, Masudur Rahman Mukul, Mike Burns, K.N.A. Padmanabhan, Roland Black, Faisal Khan Afridi, Rashid Riaz Waqar, Allahudien Palekar, Bongani Jele, Patrick Gustard, Nigel Duguid, Langton Rusere and Forster Mutizwa.
Match Referees: Graeme Labrooy, Shaid Wadvalla, Narayanan Kutty and Wayne Noon.
