Sundaram Ravi is the only Indian among the match officials for World Cup 2019 that would kickstart on May 30. Another interesting thing of this year’s selection of umpires is the choice of three world cup winners — David Boon, Kumar Dharmasena and Paul Reiffel for the matches.
Ravi has till now officiated 33 tests, 42 one day internationals and 18 T20s. Ravi also was in the news when he faced flak from Indian captain Virat Kohli in the match between Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premier League.
The three world cup winners will officiate the opening match between England and South Africa at Oval. While Boon is the match referee, Dharmasena will be one of the two field umpires and Reiffel will be the third umpire, an official release said.
Boon was in the Australian team that won the 1987 world cup. Dharmasena was a part of the Sri Lankan team that won the world cup in 1996 and Reiffel was part of the Australian team that lifted the 1999 cup.
The ICC said that the world cup will the last for umpire Ian Gould, who has announced his retirement.
Apart from Boon, the other match referees are Chris Broad, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson, Ranjan Madugalle and Jeff Crowe. Aleem Dar, Ian Gould, Dharmasena, Chriss Gaffaney, Marais Eramus, Richard Illingworth, Nigel Llong, Richard Kettleborough, Sundaram Ravi, Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel, Michael Gough, Rod Tucker, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson are the umpires who have been selected, the ICC said.
