LONDON, (Reuters):
LEADING WEST Indian umpire Steve Bucknor was yesterday named among the eight best umpires in world cricket, after being included in the ICC's new full-time elite panel.
All the major cricket powers except Pakistan and New Zealand have at least one member on the panel. England's Peter Willey turned down an invitation to join it for family reasons.
The list is: Steve Bucknor (West Indies), Asoka De Silva (Sri Lanka), Daryl Harper (Australia), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), Dave Orchard (South Africa), David Shepherd (England), Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India).
Cricket's ruling body announced the establishment of the elite panel in mid-2001 following a series of umpiring controversies and allegations of match-fixing in the sport.
Two umpires from the panel will stand in all Test matches and there will be one member standing with a home umpire for one-day internationals.
On average, each member of the panel will stand in 12 Test matches and 15 one-dayers annually, a potential on-field workload of 75 days per year.
All Test captains were asked to make nominations from the current panel of 20 international umpires.
The other major factor in choosing the panel was the marks achieved by individual umpires over the past four years, awarded by captains at the end of each Test match.
"The constant, high pressure demands of international cricket means that umpiring at the highest level now has to be a full-time profession, rather than a part-time job," said ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed in a statement.
"The eight men chosen to join the elite panel are all proven performers at Test level who command the respect of the captains and players.
"Their skills will help improve the overall standard of umpiring at international level and set an example for the next generation of top-class umpires to follow," said Speed.
The first series to be played under the new system will be the triangular one-day tournament in Sharjah starting on April 10 involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
This will be followed by the West Indies versus India Test series beginning on April 11 and the Zimbabwe versus Australia series starting on April 13.
Umpires have agreed two-year contracts with the ICC and will meet for the first time at a Referees and Umpires Workshop near Cape Town from March 21 to 24.
The induction programme will include seminars covering legal and procedural matters relating to cricket discipline, IT training, the psychology of decision-making, a presentation from the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, and medical, fitness and media training.
