The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprised nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included was Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel comprises seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as West Indies' team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who was appearing in his fifth final in a row - extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.

Umpires Panel Umpire Country MatchesNumber of matches the official officiated in, including all stages of the competition (except warm-up games), only including full umpiring duties (ie, not third or fourth umpire, nor match referee).Elite Mark Benson 8 Billy Bowden 9 Steve Bucknor 10 Aleem Dar 10 Billy Doctrove 8 Daryl Harper 8 Rudi Koertzen 10 Asad Rauf 8 Simon Taufel 10International Steve Davis 3 Ian Gould 3 Goland Greaves 0* Tony Hill 3 Ian Howell 3 Brian Jerling 3 Norman Malcolm 0* Peter Parker 3 Asoka de Silva 3

From the International Panel, Russell Tiffin of Zimbabwe, Nigel Llong of England and Suresh Shastri of India were identified as the reserve umpires, should a member of the above panel have become unavailable. None were eventually called on by the end of the tournament.

* Norman Malcolm and Goland Greaves only officiated in one match each, both acting as Fourth umpire.

Referees Referee Country Chris Broad Jeff Crowe Alan Hurst Ranjan Madugalle Roshan Mahanama Mike Procter Javagal Srinath

Seven of the eight members of the Panel of ICC Referees were included in the roster to perform match refereeing duties throughout the tournament. The only member to be left out was Clive Lloyd due to his commitment as coach of the West Indies cricket team; however he announced his retirement from match refereeing towards the end of the Super 8 stage of the competition.

Match appointments

Group stage appointments Date Team 1 Team 2 Umpire Umpire 3rd umpire 4th umpire Referee 13 March Billy Bowden Simon Taufel Brian Jerling Ian Gould Chris Broad 14 March Steve Bucknor Asoka de Silva Tony Hill Mark Benson Javagal Srinath 14 March Asad Rauf Peter Parker Billy Doctrove Rudi Koertzen Mike Procter 15 March Daryl Harper Ian Howell Aleem Dar Steve Davis Jeff Crowe 15 March Ian Gould Brian Jerling Billy Bowden Simon Taufel Roshan Mahanama 16 March Mark Benson Tony Hill Steve Bucknor Asoka de Silva Ranjan Madugalle 16 March Rudi Koertzen Asad Rauf Peter Parker Billy Doctrove Mike Procter 17 March Aleem Dar Steve Davis Ian Howell Daryl Harper Alan Hurst 17 March Billy Bowden Brian Jerling Simon Taufel Ian Gould Chris Broad 18 March Steve Bucknor Tony Hill Asoka de Silva Mark Benson Javagal Srinath 18 March Billy Doctrove Peter Parker Asad Rauf Rudi Koertzen Jeff Crowe 19 March Aleem Dar Ian Howell Daryl Harper Steve Davis Alan Hurst 19 March Ian Gould Simon Taufel Billy Bowden Brian Jerling Roshan Mahanama 20 March Mark Benson Asoka de Silva Steve Bucknor Tony Hill Ranjan Madugalle 20 March Billy Doctrove Rudi Koertzen Peter Parker Asad Rauf Mike Procter 21 March Daryl Harper Steve Davis Ian Howell Aleem Dar Jeff Crowe 21 March Simon Taufel Brian Jerling Ian Gould Billy Bowden Chris Broad 22 March Asoka de Silva Tony Hill Mark Benson Steve Bucknor Javagal Srinath 22 March Billy Doctrove Asad Rauf Rudi Koertzen Peter Parker Mike Procter 23 March Aleem Dar Daryl Harper Steve Davis Ian Howell Jeff Crowe 23 March Billy Bowden Ian Gould Brian Jerling Simon Taufel Roshan Mahanama 24 March Steve Bucknor Mark Benson Tony Hill Asoka de Silva Ranjan Madugalle 24 March Rudi Koertzen Peter Parker Billy Doctrove Asad Rauf Mike Procter 25 March Steve Davis Ian Howell Aleem Dar Daryl Harper Alan Hurst

Super 8 stage appointments Umpires: Only umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires officiated from the Super Eight stage of the competition until its conclusion.

Referees: Chris Broad, Mike Procter, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle were chosen to officiate the matches from the Super Eight stage onwards.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Umpire Umpire 3rd umpire 4th umpire Referee 27 March Asad Rauf Aleem Dar Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Chris Broad 28 March Steve Bucknor Daryl Harper Mark Benson Simon Taufel Jeff Crowe 29 March Asad Rauf Rudi Koertzen Aleem Dar Billy Bowden Mike Procter 30 March Simon Taufel Billy Doctrove Daryl Harper Steve Bucknor Ranjan Madugalle 31 March Aleem Dar Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Asad Rauf Chris Broad 1 April Mark Benson Daryl Harper Simon Taufel Steve Bucknor Jeff Crowe 2 April Aleem Dar Rudi Koertzen Asad Rauf Billy Bowden Mike Procter 3 April Simon Taufel Daryl Harper Mark Benson Billy Doctrove Ranjan Madugalle 4 April Asad Rauf Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Aleem Dar Jeff Crowe 7 April Mark Benson Billy Doctrove Steve Bucknor Daryl Harper Chris Broad 8 April Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Asad Rauf Norman Malcolm Mike Procter 9 April Steve Bucknor Simon Taufel Billy Doctrove Goland Greaves Ranjan Madugalle 10 April Mark Benson Daryl Harper Aleem Dar Asad Rauf Chris Broad 11 April Steve Bucknor Simon Taufel Rudi Koertzen Billy Bowden Jeff Crowe 12 April Asad Rauf Billy Doctrove Aleem Dar Mark Benson Mike Procter 13 April Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Steve Bucknor Simon Taufel Ranjan Madugalle 14 April Mark Benson Daryl Harper Billy Doctrove Asad Rauf Chris Broad 15 April Steve Bucknor Billy Bowden Simon Taufel Rudi Koertzen Jeff Crowe 16 April Billy Doctrove Aleem Dar Mark Benson Daryl Harper Mike Procter 17 April Steve Bucknor Simon Taufel Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Ranjan Madugalle 18 April Mark Benson Billy Doctrove Daryl Harper Aleem Dar Chris Broad 19 April Billy Bowden Rudi Koertzen Simon Taufel Steve Bucknor Jeff Crowe 20 April Asad Rauf Aleem Dar Billy Doctrove Daryl Harper Mike Procter 21 April Simon Taufel Rudi Koertzen Billy Bowden Steve Bucknor Ranjan Madugalle

Semi-finals

After a review of the performance of the umpires throughout the tournament the best four umpires were appointed to officiate on-field in the semi-finals. The role of third umpire will be filled by the two next best umpires, and likewise for the fourth umpire appointments.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Umpire Umpire 3rd umpire 4th umpire Referee 24 April Simon Taufel Rudi Koertzen Daryl Harper Asad Rauf Mike Procter 25 April Steve Bucknor Aleem Dar Billy Bowden Mark Benson Jeff Crowe

Of the appointed umpires, Bucknor and Koertzen have stood on-field before in World Cup semi-finals. Taufel and Dar served as third and fourth umpires respectively in the semi-finals of the previous tournament in 2003.

Final The two on-field umpires for the final were chosen after a performance review, such that they are the two best umpires from the tournament (independent of the competing nations). The third and fourth umpire roles were filled by the same process.

Since the officials had to be independent of the two nations participating in the final, Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper were ineligible to umpire, whilst Ranjan Madugalle could not serve as the match referee.

Date Team 1 Team 2 Umpire Umpire 3rd umpire 4th umpire Referee 28 April Steve Bucknor Aleem Dar Rudi Koertzen Billy Bowden Jeff Crowe

This was Aleem Dar's first appointment in a World Cup final, and prior to the match had said that it was to be the most important game of his career to date. Steve Bucknor, on the other hand, stood in his fifth consecutive World Cup final, extending his previous record of four in a row, though this competition held a special note, having been held in his native West Indies. He said that this appointment was a dream come true.

Criticism of umpires Majority of the tournament was passed without any major criticism of the umpires or errors on their part, however the final was wrought with confusion and was described as a "farcical finish" to the competition.

Rain affected the start of the match, reducing the contest to 38 overs a side, and further rain reduced the Sri Lankan innings to 36 overs. With Australia almost certain victors with just 3 overs to go, bad light began to affect play and the umpires seemed to offer the Sri Lankans the opportunity to leave the field for bad light. Both teams assumed this would have granted Australia victory that evening, but they were soon informed that if the light improved the match would have to continue; and if not then the final 3 overs would be played the next day. Sri Lanka's batsmen eventually came out and played out the final 3 overs regardless, and Australia were eventually crowned champions.

Match referee Jeff Crowe revealed a "communication breakdown" between himself, on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor and third umpire Rudi Koertzen was to blame for the mix-up, which overlooked Law 21 of the laws of cricket. The law states that, in a One Day International, providing a minimum of 20 overs have been played then a result can be reached using the Duckworth-Lewis system.

The ICC issued a statement apologising for occurrence of the incident, but said that none of those involved would be sacked. Two months later it was announced that all five officials involved - the two on field umpires, the third and fourth umpires and the match referee - were to be reprimanded by suspension to prevent them officiating in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.

Notes and references