Pakistan’s Asad Rauf, who is being investigated in the IPL spot-fixing scandal and New Zealander Billy Bowden were on Tuesday dropped from the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires after an annual review of their performance.
Rauf and Bowden have been replaced by former Test cricketers Richard Illingworth and Paul Reiffel.
“The selection panel considered the overall performances of the umpires over the past 12 months when deciding which umpires would be offered contracts for 2013-14. In Asad’s case, it is important to emphasise that the recent speculation linking his name to the IPL spot-fixing investigation was not considered during the selectors’ deliberations,” said Geoff Allardice, Chairman of the ICC Umpires Selection Panel.
“It is exciting to see Richard and Paul promoted to the elite panel, but it is also important to acknowledge and appreciate the outstanding contributions of Asad and Billy over a long period of time,” said Allardice.
Illingworth and Reiffel have joined Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Steve Davis, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford and Rod Tucker in the panel for the 2013-2014 season, commencing July 1, 2013.
