India's Sundaram Ravi was retained in the International Cricket Council (ICC) elite panel as the world body on Wednesday announced an unchanged panel of 12 umpires for the 2016-17 season after the annual review and selection process.
The announcement was made by the selection panel headed by chairman Geoff Allardice. The other members of the panel include chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle, ex-England player-turned commentator David Lloyd and former India captain and international umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan.
Apart from Ravi, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker are the other umpires in the elite panel.
The decision to retain the panel was prompted by the impressive performance of the umpires across all the formats in the previous season which witnessed the correct decision percentage rise to 95.6 per cent in 220 matches from 94 per cent in 2014-2015.
Confirming the elite panel for the 2016-2017 season, Allardice said, "The elite panel has had an outstanding 12 months. Based on the individual performances of each umpire, as well as their ability to work together as a group, the selectors have decided that the same 12 umpires deserve to be rewarded with appointment to the elite panel for 2016-2017."
"The selectors also noted the improved performances of some of the umpires on the international panel and expect them to be pushing for selection on the elite panel in years to come," he added.
--IANS
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