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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the international body for cricket whose actions on certain issues have not found favour with member countries and to some extent, brought the wrath of the international press on them, are taking meaningful steps to make the highly competitive world of international cricket incident free and also raise the standards throughout the world game.

The first step they took in this direction was to appoint an elite panel of five international match referees headed by our own Ranjan Madugalle. The former Sri Lanka captain and national selector was entrusted with the task of screening and interviewing more than 30 suitable candidates for the job after the ICC had asked all the Test playing countries to nominate their choice.

The five who finally made it to the panel were (it was in fact four with Madugalle automatically qualifying as the chief referee) were two former captains Clive Lloyd of West Indies and Gundappa Viswanath of India along with two former all-rounders Mike Procter of South Africa and Wasim Raja (elder brother of Ramiz Raja) of Pakistan.

One of the fundamental requirements that were looked at in picking this panel, in the words of ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed were: "the combination of an excellent cricket pedigree and the ability to think and act decisively". Considering the respect these men have earned in their achievements throughout the cricket world, there is little doubt the ICC have picked the best that is acceptable to all member countries.

What the ICC have done is to restructure the existing panel of 20 part time referees to five full time professionals in order to take the standard of decision making and authority to new levels.

These five referees are expected to work closely with a new panel of eight elite umpires to bring an about a distinct improvement in on-field behaviour within a brief period. In order to help them achieve that, the ICC is also bringing in a new disciplinary code to back the judgment of the umpires and match referees.

According to Speed, these measures are being brought to 'the great benefit of the players, the game and all those follow it around the world'. How effective they will be only time will tell. With so much of commercialisation of the sport, it has become so competitive that the spirit of the game as the ICC has lain out, has been at times, threatened.

The ICC is expected to shortly announce the elite panel of eight umpires and if a Sri Lankan figure among them, don't be at all surprised. For all the criticism and crap our umpires take from visiting journalists, to have one of our own making it to the elite panel will be a great shot in the arm for umpiring in Sri Lanka.

Just take a look at what the English press called B.C. Cooray and Peter Manuel when their cricket team toured Sri Lanka in Jan-Feb last year. They called the umpires 'Bad Call' Cooray and Manuel, 'the butcher of Galle'.

But emerging from such an 'undistinguished lot' as the British press might call them, is Asoka de Silva, the former NCC and Sri Lanka leg-spin and googly bowler.

De Silva broke into the international scene as an umpire in June 2000 in the second Test against Pakistan at Galle, and has fast tracked himself into the reckoning as one of the best in the business today. Within the short space of time De Silva who has so far stood in nine Tests, has virtually all the qualifications of making it to the elite eight panel.

Some of his plus points are: (a) he is competent, (b) a former Test cricketer and, (c) at 45, young enough to relate to the players. If the selection of the eight are to be based on the ICC policy of putting the best men in charge of the biggest fixtures over a period from January 1, 2001, then on top of the list will be De Silva and West Indian Steve Bucknor each with 9 Tests, followed by Australian Darrel Hair and India's Srini Venkatraghavan each with 8 Tests, Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Russel Tiffin (Zimbabwe) each with 7 Tests, John Hampshire (England) and Daryl Harper (Australia) each with 6 Tests and so on.

There are no English umpires in the top eight of the list, but Peter Willey (who has been out of action since September with an ankle sprain) and David Shepherd, the oldest at 61 are expected to make it to the elite eight which could mean that Tiffin, Hampshire and Harper will have to fight for one place along with probably Ed Nicholls of West Indies.

What the ICC hopes to achieve with this panel in place is to improve the standard of umpiring and to subside the clamour for a bigger role for technology. The eight will be acknowledged as the best in the business.

For Sri Lanka to have one individual in each of these elite panels is in itself a proud achievement. Following the country's World Cup win six years ago, cricket has in fact grown from strength to strength that today we can proudly put our heads up and say we are also competent enough to take on what the rest of the world can offer, not only on the cricket field, but in other areas as well.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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