By IANS
Dubai : The International Cricket Council (ICC) Wednesday decided to give a merit-based increment to its elite panel of umpires to encourage others to aspire to get into the top-most bracket.
This was among the several recommendations made by an umpires’ task force (UTF) and accepted by the ICC board at its two-day meeting that ended here Wednesday.
The UTF was made up of David Morgan (ICC chairman), Geoff Allardice (Cricket Australia manager), Ranjan Madugalle (ICC chief match referee) and David Richards (ICC general manager – cricket).
The main recommendations accepted by the board include:
The elite panel of umpires to be expanded from 10 to 12 to cope with busy periods in the cricket calendar, allowing leading officials to spend less time away from home and also allow them to work on their skills and mentor up coming officials in their own domestic set-ups.
The development and implementation of an accreditation process for umpires wishing to gain entry into the ICC international panel (lower panel).
The appointment of five regional umpire coaches/mentors to work under the ICC umpires’ manager. They would be responsible for working with the elite and international panel umpires from their region as well as all visiting umpires.
Payment structure for elite panel umpires should provide sufficient incentive for officials to aspire to be appointed to the elite panel; and that each umpire be paid a merit-based increment.
The selection of umpires to the panels and to matches should be carried out by an independent three-person selection group chaired by a fourth person, ICC general manager (cricket); and the current policy regarding the appointment of neutral (independent of participants) umpires for matches, including ICC events, should be retained.