The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance Governance is all the processes of interactions be they through the laws Law ...

to officiate in

Test matchesTest match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associat ...

and

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball gameBat-and-ball may refer to: *Bat-and-ball ga ...

s around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC decided to reform the way that international cricket was umpired. The main change was that both umpires in a Test match and one of the umpires in a One Day International are now independent of the competing nations, whereas before 2002 just one of the umpires in a Test was independent and in ODIs both umpires were from the home nation. The majority of these ICC appointments are fulfilled by the members of the Elite Panel, who are generally thought to be the best umpires in the world. As such the ICC hopes to ensure that umpiring standards are as high as possible. Members of the panel stand in around 10 Tests and 15 ODIs each year.About ICC – Match Officials
The list of umpires in the panel is revised every year by the ICC Umpires Selection Panel.

History

The panel was formed in 2002 with eight members.

Peter Willey Peter Willey (born 6 December 1949) is a former English cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with ...

was invited to be on the panel, but declined the opportunity because it would have required him to spend too much time away from his family. The last members of the original panel retired in 2011. The original eight panel members were:

Steve Bucknor Stephen Anthony Bucknor, OJ (born 31 May 1946) is a Jamaican former international cricket umpire. Bucknor umpired in a record 128 Test matches between 1989 and 2009, and also umpired in 181 One Day International A One Day International ...

Daryl Harper Daryl John Harper, (born 23 October 1951) is an Australian umpire (cricket), cricket umpire, who was a List of Test cricket umpires, Test umpire between 1998 and 2011. He was a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires from 2002 until 2011 when the ...

, Ashoka de Silva,

Srinivas Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ( (informally Venkat, born 21 April 1945) is an Indian former cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field at the centre ...

Rudi Koertzen Rudolf Eric Koertzen (; born 26 March 1949) is a former international cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field at the centre of which is a cricket pitch ...

Dave Orchard David Lynton Orchard (born 24 June 1948) is South African former first-class cricketer, and former international Umpire (cricket), umpire who stood in 44 Test cricket, Tests and 107 One-Day Internationals. Biography Orchard was born in Pietermari ...

, David Shepherd and Russell Tiffin. Members of the

International Panel of ICC Umpires The International Panel of ICC Umpires was established by the International Cricket Council, ICC in 1994 following trial in 1992/3, to ensure that one neutral umpire would stand in every Test match. The best performing umpires may earn promotion to the Elite Panel.

Emirates Emirates may refer to: United Arab Emirates * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual ...

sponsors the panel, and the umpires are required to wear shirts and coats which have 'Fly Emirates' printed on them whenever they are officiating. In July 2019,

Michael Gough Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric character (arts), characters.28 April 201 ...

and Joel Wilson were added to the Elite panel following the retirement of

Ian Gould Ian James Gould (born 19 August 1957) is an English former first-class cricket First-class cricket is an official classification of the highest-standard international or domestic matches in the sport of cricket. A first-class match is of th ...

and exclusion of Sundaram Ravi after the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship The International Championship is a professional Snooker world rankings ...

. , Australia and England have jointly provided the most members of the panel with seven. South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies have provided three each; Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka have provided two each; and Zimbabwe have provided just one member.

Current members

cricket season the Elite Panel consists of:

Former members

The first departures from the panel came in 2004 when

(known as Venkat) retired, and Asoka de Silva,

and Russell Tiffin did not have their contracts renewed. David Shepherd retired in 2005 following 22 years as an international umpire.

Darrell Hair Darrell Bruce Hair (born 30 September 1952) is an Australian former Test match cricket umpire, from New South Wales. He stood on the International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before he, along with fellow Australian Simon Taufel, and New ...

, who joined the panel in 2003, was banned from officiating in matches involving full ICC members following the Ball tampering controversy in August 2006. In March 2008, following a spell officiating associate members, Hair was once again permitted to umpire full members, but in August he handed in his resignation after he was only allowed to officiate in two tests.

retired in 2009, having stood in a record 128 Tests since March 1989.

retired in 2010, while Mark Benson, who had joined the panel in 2006, stood down to return to domestic cricket. Asoka de Silva, who rejoined the panel in 2008, was stood down again in 2011 along with

Simon Taufel Simon James Arthur Taufel, (born 21 January, 1971) is a former Australian cricket umpire who was earlier a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won five consecutive ICC Awards, ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008, and was gene ...

and

Billy Doctrove Billy Raymond Doctrove (born 3 July 1955 in Marigot, Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago language: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ''Dominik''), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. Th ...

retired in 2012 and

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport Cue sports (sometimes written cuesports), also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill general ...

retired in 2015. Sundaram Ravi was dropped from the panel after

retired from the panel after the 2019 World Cup. Bruce Oxenford retired from the panel in 2021. ''Former elite panel members can still umpire in ODIs and international T20s. Statistics correct as of 31 January 2021.'' * Original panel member ^de Silva was absent from the panel between 2004 and 2008.

Records

Test matches

Most Test matches as an umpire:

ODI matches

Most ODI matches as an umpire:

T20I matches

Most T20I matches as an umpire:

References

External links

ICC match officials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elite Panel Of Icc Umpires Cricket umpiring International Cricket Council