DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC) – Billy Doctrove will be part of the umpires’ panel for the World Cup, which opens on February 19, and will be co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The International Cricket Council, the sport’s World governing body, announced yesterday that the 55-year-old Dominican will get down to business from the opening day, when he will handle TV umpire duties for the opening day match between Bangladesh and India in the Bangladeshi city of Mirpur.
Australia’s Steve Davis and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena, a former World Cup winner with Sri Lanka in 1996, will stand in the match.
Reserve umpire Asad Rauf, and Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle complete the match control unit for the World Cup opener.
Apart from the opener, Doctrove, who has stood in 31 Tests, 101 One-day Internationals, and 17 Twenty20 Internationals, will be reasonably busy throughout the six-week competition, with appointments to eight other matches.
He will stand with Dharmasena on Friday, February 25 in the match between Trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand at Nagpur in India.
Doctrove will be a reserve umpire, when Zimbabwe face Canada on Monday, February 28, at the same venue.
He will work two matches in three days in New Delhi, India, when he stands on Monday, March 7 in the contest between Kenya and Canada, and will be the TV umpire on Wednesday, March 9, when India meet the Netherlands.
Doctrove will again perform TV duties, when he returns to Nagpur for the Saturday, March 12 clash between India and South Africa.
Once the Eden Gardens Stadium remains on the schedule, he heads to Kolkata for three matches to close-out the group stage.
On Tuesday, March 15, Doctrove stands with Dharmasena again, when South Africa meet Ireland, and he is reserve umpire three days later, when the Irish battle the Dutch.
Doctrove then links up again with Dharmasena on the last day of the group stage for the all-Africa clash between Zimbabwe and Kenya, on Sunday, March 20, the same day that West Indies battle India in the final match of the group fixtures.
Other umpires who officiate in the World Cup include ICC Umpire-of-the-Year 2009 and 2010 Aleem Dar of Pakistan, South Africa’s Marais Erasmus, England’s Ian Gould, Australia’s four-time ICC Umpire-of-the-Year Simon Taufel, as well as compatriots Daryl Harper, and Rod Tucker, along with New Zealand’s Tony Hill and Sri Lanka’s Asoka de Silva. They are all members of the ICC’s Elite Panel.
Englishmen Richard Kettleborough and Nigel Llong, Australian Bruce Oxenford, as well as Indians Amish Saheba and Shahvir Tarapore – all from the ICC’s International Panel – will also officiate.
The matchreferees for the event besides Madugalle are his compatriot Roshan Mahanama, Chris Broad of England, Jeff Crowe of New Zealand, and Andy Pycroft of Zimbabwe.
The ICC will announce appointments for the knock-out matches in due course.