Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced a 19-member list of officials who will be participating in the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight. The season will begin on February 13. The list, as stated in the PCB’s press release, consists of 14 umpires and 5 referees.
Three members of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) elite panel of umpires, Aleem Dar, Richard Illingworth and Michael Gough, will be joined by Ahsan Raza, Asif Yaqoob, Rashid Riaz, Faisal Khan Afridi, Martin Saggers, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Alex Wharf, and Shozab Raza. They will be supported by Muhammad Asif, Roshan Mahanama and Tariq Rasheed who will be involved as fourth umpires.
The press release also mentions the experiences of some of the officials. Alex Wharf, who played 13 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for England, and Martin Saggers, who played in three Tests for England, will be making their PSL debuts along with Sri Lanka’s Ruchira Palliyaguruge, who is also a member of the ICC’s international panel of umpires.
Michael Gough will be making his fourth appearance in PSL, while Richard Illingworth will be participating for the sixth time. Roshan Mahanama, a former member of the ICC’s elite panel of match referees, will be returning for the eighth consecutive year to lead a team of match referees, which includes Ali Naqvi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Javed Malik and Muhammad Anees.
The opening match between the defending champions Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans will be umpired by Asif Yaqoob and Martin Saggers, with Faisal Afridi as the third umpire and Shozab Raza as the fourth umpire. Mohammad Anees will serve as the match referee. The match between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi on February 14 will be led by Ali Naqvi as part of the Playing Control Team. The on-field umpires for the match will be Ahsan Raza and Alex Wharf, while Ruchira Palliyaguruge and Tariq Rasheed will serve as the third and fourth umpires, respectively.
