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World champs Sri Lanka can breathe a sigh of relief that controversial Australian umpire Darrel Hair will not be officiating in any of their five qualifying round group matches at next month's cricket World Cup in England.

Hair became unpopular with the Sri Lankans when he called off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan for throwing in a Test match against Australia at Melbourne in 1995. He was later stopped from officiating in any of Sri Lanka's matches in the Carlton and United World Series Cup in Australia last year after openly accusing the spinner in his book 'Decision Maker', which was released shortly before Sri Lanka arrived in Australia.

Hair was found guilty of violating the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Code of Conduct, but no action was taken against him.

Sri Lanka will be defending the World Cup they won at Lahore three years ago, when they play host country England in the opening match of the 1999 competition at Lord's on May 14.

The two umpires officiating in this game are India's Srini Venkatraghavan and South African Rudi Koertzen. The third umpire for the match will be another South African David Orchard. West Indian Cammie Smith will be the match referee.

Sri Lanka are in Group 'A' with England, South Africa, India, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

The officials for Sri Lanka's other World Cup group matches are:

May 19: v South Africa at Northampton - umpires: Steve Dunne (New Zealand) and Steve Bucknor (West Indies), third umpire: Ken Palmer (England), match referee: John Reid (New Zealand).

May 22: v Zimbabwe at Worcester - umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and David Shepherd (England), third umpire: Mervyn Kitchen (England), match referee: Talat Ali (Pakistan)..

May 26: v India at Taunton - umpires: Steve Dunne (New Zealand) and David Shepherd (England), third umpire: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), match referee: Cammie Smith (West Indies).

May 30: v Kenya at Southampton - umpires - David Orchard (South Africa) and Peter Willey (England), third umpire: Barry Dudleston (England), match referee: Talat Ali (Pakistan). FRANCIS AND MADUGALLE

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka umpire K.T. Francis and ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle will be involved in officiating matches during the World Cup. Their respective assignments are:

K.T. Francis - May 15: Zimbabwe v Kenya at Taunton (third umpire), May 18: England v Kenya at Canterbury (with Rudi Koertzen), May 21: West Indies v Bangladesh at Dublin (with Darrel Hair), May 24: Scotland v Bangladesh at Edinburgh (with David Orchard), May 28: New Zealand v Pakistan at Derby (with Rudi Koertzen), May 30: West Indies v Australia at Old Trafford (with Steve Dunne).

Ranjan Madugalle - May 16: Australia v Scotland at Worcester, May 21: West Indies v Bangladesh at Dublin, May 24: West Indies v New Zealand at Southampton, May 28: New Zealand v Pakistan at Derby, May 31: Pakistan v Bangladesh at Northampton.

At Dublin and Derby, Francis and Madugalle will be officiating in the same matches in their different capacities.