Dharmasena to officiate at WC opening match

Sri Lankan Kumar Dharmasena and Indian Nitin Menon will be the on-field umpires for the opening match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 between England and New Zealand which will be held on October 5 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

The group stage clash, a repeat of the unforgettable final four years ago, will see Dharmasena and Menon joined by TV umpire Paul Wilson, fourth umpire Shahid Saikat and match referee Javagal Srinath.

Dharmasena made history in 2015 as the first person to both play and umpire in an ICC Men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup final while Menon will be standing in his first ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match.

The former Sri Lanka all rounder Kumar Dharmasena who was an on field umpire at the last two ICC world cup ODI finals once again get a chance at this world cup and is the most experienced Sri Lanka umpire.

Sri Lankan Dharmasena and Australian Paul Riffel are the only two umpires who played in the world cup final in 1996 at Lahore.

Along with Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus and Richard Kettleborough also return, having taken charge of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup finals in 2019 and 2015, respectively.

Erasmus and Dharmasena were the men in the middle for both the 2019 final at Lord’s and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 final.

Match Officials for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023:

Umpires: Chris Brown (New Zealand), Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka), Marais Erasmus (South Africa), Christopher Gaffaney (New Zealand), Michael Gough (England), Adrian Holdstock (South Africa), Richard Illingworth (England), Richard Kettleborough (England), Nitin Menon (India), Ahsan Raza (Pakistan), Paul Reiffel (Australia), Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid (Bangladesh), Rodney Tucker (Australia), Alex Wharf (England), Joel Wilson (West Indies) and Paul Wilson (Australia).

Match Referees: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand), Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe), Richie Richardson (West Indies) and Javagal Srinath (India).