The International Cricket Council (ICC) will appoint two neutral umpires from a panel of eight for test matches from April 2002, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Friday. "We will have (a panel of) eight umpires that will do 95 percent of the test matches," Speed said.
"Then we will have a supporting panel which will consist of two umpires from each (test-playing) country so in total there will be 28 umpires that will be eligible for international cricket. "In contrast we had 74 umpires who stood in international matches last year and that's too many."
For one-day internationals from April, the ICC will use one home umpire and one international umpire as opposed to the current practice of two home umpires. A five-man panel of referees, to be headed by Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle, will also be appointed to oversee games. Bureau Report