ICC on Tuesday announced the match Officials for the league stage of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 slated to be played across six venues in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3.
“The ICC’s commitment to supporting women Officials reflects in the appointments with several making their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup debuts starting with the tournament opener between West Indies & hosts New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Tauranga”, stated an Official ICC release.
Former South Africa player Shandre Fritz who featured in the 2005, 2009 & 2013 world Cups will be the match referee in the opener match of the Women’s World Cup. Her compatriot Lauren Agenbag becomes the first woman from South Africa to umpire a T20I International. Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid (on-field), Alex Wharf (third umpire), & Sue Redfern (fourth umpire) will be the other officials for the match.
Apart from Agenberg, Fritz & Redfern, other women officiating in the Women’s World Cup 2022 are Match Referee GD Lakshmi, Umpires Kim Cotton, Claire Polosak, Eloise Sheridan & Jacqueline Williams
Adrian Griffith, ICC Senior Manager- umpires & referees said that the appointments were part of ICC’s policy of nurturing the best available talent in different countries. “We are proud to announce eight women match officials in our team for the tournament. We had six women match officials at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020 & the steady upward path is as per our plans & keeping with our long term vision”, said Adrian Griffith in a statement.
“But while we have been continuously increasing the number of women officials, there have been no concessions & all of them deserve to be there. The appointments are based on merit, & they have made it to the top level because of their skills & preservance”, she added,
The match referees for the semifinals will be announced at the end of the round-robin stage while the announcement for the finals will be made after the semi-finals.
Match referees:
Gary Baxter, GS Lakshmi, Shandre Fritz
Umpires:
Lauren Agenbag, Kim Cotton, Ahmad Shah Pakteen, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Claire Polosak, Suzanne Redfern, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, Eloise Sheridan, Alexander Wharf, Jacqueline Williams, Paul Wilson
Follow MadOverCricket for the latest cricket news, cricket match updates, live cricket scores, cricket series updates, and more!
