No home umpires in Tests from April

LONDON, JUNE 20. International Cricket Council has given its approval to the formation of a full-time panel of umpires contracted to the world body and announced that there will be no home umpires in any Test match from April next year.

The ICC executive board, whose three-day meeting concluded here on Tuesday, also decided to address the need for higher pay packets for players, one of the recommendations of Sir Paul Condon report on corruption in cricket, in order to rein in match-fixing activities.

ICC decided to form an elite panel of eight umpires from the best available talent who would stand in all the Tests. The umpires will have a two-year contract with ICC and their performances will be reviewed at regular intervals based on the captains' reports, ICC president Malcolm Gray told reporters.

``Players have been professionalised, administrators have been professionalised, and there is a chief executive in every board, whereas umpires and referees are still in the semi- professional, semi-amateur stage,'' Gray said, adding that his comment was ``not a particular criticism of recent performances of umpires and referees.''

In the one-day internationals, one home umpire will be allowed to stand alongwith one of those from the ICC panel.

The umpires will get a salary from ICC plus match fees adjusted according to the purchasing power in each country. The same will apply to the panel of five match-referees which ICC has also decided to constitute.

Gray said in case the eight umpires were not enough to cover all the Test matches going around the world, the ICC would call on the services of those in the international panel, a subsidiary pool of about 25 officials contracted to the respective cricket boards and trained to become part of the elite panel in due course.

The umpires in the subsidiary panel will have a one- year contract, he said. The selection of the umpires will follow a rigorous trial which will include fitness tests, apart from reports from captains and referees.

Sunil Gavaskar, who has been re-elected as chairman of cricket committee - playing, will also have a major role in the selection of umpires to the elite panel, Gray said. A new ICC umpiring exam will replace the present qualification system.

- PTI

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