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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The Sri Lanka Cricket umpires committee in a new move to encourage up and coming umpires have introduced a few new faces for the upcoming England tour to Sri Lanka.

Among the umpires appointed for matches against England, three are from Matara. Newcomer to the international set up is Gratien Liyanage, a cricketer of repute having captained his school St. Servatius College, Matara and then Southern Province against touring sides. He also represented Matara SC in the division I tournament.

Liyanage will officiate with Ranmore Martinez in England's tour opener against Sri Lanka Cricket President's XI in the one-day warm-up game at De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa on Saturday.

Liyanage has also been named as standby umpire for the second one-day international between Sri Lanka and England at the R. Premadasa Stadium on November 21.

Jagath Nandakumar and Gamini Dissanayake complete the trio of umpires from Matara. Nandakumar represented Matara SC in division I cricket and has officiated in a few international matches against touring sides. He has been named standby for the third one-day international at the R. Premadasa Stadium on November 23.

Dissanayake who has also represented Matara SC in division II cricket officiates in England's 3-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka 'A' at the CCC grounds from November 26-28 with C.B.C. Rodrigo. He is a standby for the third Test between England and Sri Lanka at the SSC from December 18-22.

Martinez who is standby for the first Test at Galle from December 2-6 played cricket for SSC and Negombo CC and was also a national poolist. Newly appointed SLC umpires consultant Sudath Pasqual said the move to introduce new umpires was taken to give a message to the umpiring fraternity that if they are good they will be rewarded. "We purely went on the performances of each individual umpire. We studied the captains reports submitted for the Premier and Under 23 tournaments and made our appointments accordingly," said Pasqual, a former Sri Lanka cricketer.

"In the past, appointments have been made on the umpires' seniority which had led to a lot of criticism. The methods we are adopting is to strictly adhere to performances," he said.

"We have opened the doors to all umpires that if they are good enough they will get the due recognition," Pasqual said.

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd will be the ICC match referee for the one-day and Test series.

Umpiring appointments

England v SLC President's XI at Moratuwa (Nov. 15): Ranmore Martinez and Gratien Liyanage, standby Philip Mendis.

1st ODI at Dambulla (Nov. 18): Darryl Harper (Aust) and Tyronne Wijewardene, TV umpire: Gamini Silva, standby: Lalith Jayasundera.

2nd ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (Nov. 20 d/n): Darryl Harper (Aust) and Peter Manuel, TV umpire: Tyronne Wijewardene, standby: Gratien Liyanage.

3rd ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium (Nov. 23 d/n): Darryl Harper (Aust) and Tyronne Wijewardene, TV umpire: Peter Manuel, standby: Jagath Nandakumar.

England v Sri Lanka 'A' at CCC grounds (Nov. 26-28): Gamini Dissanayake and C.B.C. Rodrigo, standby: Saman Amerasinghe.

1st Test at Galle (Dec. 2-6): Darryl Harper (Aust) and Srini Venkatraghavan (India), TV umpire: Gamini Silva, standby Ranmore Martinez.

2nd Test at Kandy (Dec. 10-14): Darryl Harper (Aust) and Aleem Dar (Pak), TV umpire: Peter Manuel, standby: Gamini Silva.

3rd Test at SSC (Dec. 18-22): Steve Bucknor (WI) and Aleem Dar (Pak), TV umpire: Tyronne Wijewardene, standby: Gamini Dissanayake.

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