Calcutta: The ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) will review and evaluate the role, status and title of ICC Match Referee at its meeting in Fujairah in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday and Friday.
The role and title of the ICC Match Referee will be discussed following events of The Oval Test match between England and Pakistan last year.
The Oval Test events were discussed at length by the Executive Board at its last meeting held in Mumbai in November last year and one of the recommendations approved by the Board was that management should prepare a paper for the CEC Meeting evaluating and reviewing the role of the Match Referee.
The members of the CEC will now be asked to consider whether the Match Referee should be responsible for making decisions on the termination of a match.
Their recommendation will be presented to the ICC Board for a final decision in March.
ICC general manager (cricket) David Richardson, said this would form part of a wider discussion about the role of the Match Referee.
“It is often perceived that the Referee is an official of a type used in many other sports,” said Richardson.
“The reality is that the Match Referee is the Chief Executive of an international match who is responsible for liaising with the teams, the boards, the venue and other stakeholders to ensure the smooth running of a match,” he said.
“It is therefore suggested that while the on-field role of the umpires shall not be undermined, the Match Referee should have the final say on the termination of a match,” he added.