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Two Sri Lankans - umpire K. T. Francis and match referee Ranjan Madugalle have been picked to officiate at the World Cup cricket tournament in England during May/June this year.

Francis is among 12 National Grid Panel umpires and Madugalle among six ICC referees.

As a matter of interest especially to Sri Lanka is the fact that Australian Darrell Hair has been picked to officiate at the World Cup. Umpire Hair was in the centre of controversy four years ago when he 'called' Muttiah Muralitharan for alleged throwing. When Sri Lanka toured Australia and early this year Hair opted out of 'standing' in the one-day series, when he (Hair) made scathing remarks about Muralitharan in his book 'Decision Maker'. Charges were brought against Hair and he was found guilty on two counts, but was not penalised.

The 12 National Grid Panel umpires: Darrel Hair (Australia) David Shepherd and Peter Willey (England), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India), Doug Cowie and Steve Dunne (New Zealand) Javed Akhtar (Pakistan), Rudi Koertzen and Dave orchard (South Africa), K. T. Francis (Sri Lanka), Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Ian Robinson (Zimbabwe).

Each full member country of the ICC nominated one of their Panel Umpires (England nominated two as the hosts). ICC selected a further two from the remainder of the Panel to complete the full quota of 12.

ICC has chosen six referees from the Panel and the following have accepted the ICC invitation: Peter Burge (Australia), Raman Subba Row (England), John Reid (New Zealand), Talat Ali (Pakistan), Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka) and Cammie Smith (West Indies).