LAHORE: West Indies’ Sir Richie Richardson, who is a member of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, will lead the playing control teams for the three ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 fixtures between England and host Pakistan.
Both teams are scheduled to play three-match Test series in Multan and Rawalpindi from October 7 to 28. The first Test match will be played at the Multan Cricket Stadium from October 7 to 11, while the second Test match will be played at the same venue from October 15 to 19. The third Test match will commence on October 24 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
For the first Test, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena and Bangladesh’s Sharfuddoula Saikat – both ICC Elite Panel of Umpires will perform duties as on-field umpires. New Zealand’s Christopher Gaffaney, also part of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires, will be the third umpire, while Pakistan’s Asif Yaqoob (ICC International Panel of Umpires) will act as fourth umpire.
For the second Test, Kumar Dharmasena will be joined by Christopher Gaffaney for on-field umpires’ duties, while Sharfuddoula Saikat will perform duties of the third umpire. Pakistan’s Rashid Riaz, also part of the ICC International Panel of Umpires, will be the fourth umpire.
For third Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Christopher Gaffaney and Sharfuddoula Saikat will perform the duties of as on-field umpires, while Kumar Dharmasena will serve as a third umpire. Pakistan’s Faisal Aafreedi – part of the ICC International Panel of Umpires, will be the fourth umpire.
Moreover, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that the consortium of TransGroup and ARY has been awarded international broadcast rights for the three-match Test series between England and hosts Pakistan starting later next week in Multan and Rawalpindi.
The rights were awarded following a transparent tender process.
Meanwhile, the PCB also confirmed the star-studded commentary panel for the Test series set to begin on October 7 at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Former England Test captains David Gower, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain will return to Pakistan as commentators for this series, having previously covered the three Tests between Pakistan and England in December 2022. They will be joined by Test cricketer Ian Ward as the voices from England. The Pakistani voices include former Test captains Aamir Sohail and Ramiz Raja, Test cricketer Bazid Khan and former Pakistan women’s team captain Urooj Mumtaz. Zainab Abbas will serve as the series presenter.
The three Tests will be beamed all around the globe through 28 full High-Definition cameras, including the buggy cam, drone cam and complete Hawk-Eye review system.
The series also sees PCB’s PitchSide Studio make a return, which will be hosted by presenter Zainab Abbas, providing viewers an access to insights during pre- and post-match shows.
The series will be live broadcast in Pakistan region on A-Sports, Ten Sports and PTV Sports, while it will be live-streamed on Tamasha. BBC Sport (United Kingdom) will be radio partners for the series. For UK region, Sky Sports will broadcast the series, while other broadcast details of remaining regions will be announced in due course.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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