Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN cricket umpire Langton Rusere’s star continues to shine after he was named among the 16 umpires to officiate in Round One and Super 12 phase of the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup yesterday.
The 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will take place in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17 to November 14.
Selection of a 20-strong group effectively means that for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be neutral umpires for all matches of the 16-team tournament.
The 16 umpires and four match referees finalised for the 45-match tournament include three umpires, who will be officiating in their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cups, Aleem Dar, Marais Erasmus and Rod Tucker.
The officiating personnel for the semi-finals and final of the tournament will be named in due course. Rusere is the first black Zimbabwean to umpire a Test match.
He stood in his first international match, a Twenty20 international between Zimbabwe and India, at Harare Sports Club on July 19, 2015. Three months later, he made his one-day international (ODI) bow in a match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on October 24, 2015.
He also officiated in the 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh, the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup in England as well as the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 final between Australia and England at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua in November 2018.
The first match of the tournament, between Oman and Papua New Guinea on October 17 will be officiated by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena, who was one of the on-field umpires for the final of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup alongside New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney. Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee, with Richard Kettleborough the TV umpire and Ahsan Raza the fourth official.
The rematch of the 2016 final between England and the West Indies, a Super 12 Group A clash, will be overseen by Dar and Erasmus, with Australia’s David Boon the match referee and Chris Brown on TV duty.
Online Reporter