DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the umpire and match referee appointments for the pool stage matches of the World Cup being staged in Australia and New Zealand from Feb 14 to March 29.

Marais Erasmus and Nigel Llong will be the on-field umpires for the tournament opener between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Christchurch on Feb 14. S. Ravi and Simon Fry will be the third and fourth umpires, respectively, while David Boon will be the match referee.

On the same day in a day/night fixture in Melbourne, Australia will lock horns with England in a match which will be umpired by Aleem Dar and Kumar Dharmasena. Billy Bowden will act as the third umpire, while Joel Wilson will perform the fourth umpire’s duties. Jeff Crowe will be the match referee.

Apart from Boon and Crowe, Chris Broad, Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama will share the match referees’ responsibilities during the 44-day tournament in which 49 matches will be played. All the five are members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC match referees.