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Rauf and Bowden were demoted
Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden have both been dropped from the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Elite Panel of umpires following an annual review by the organisation.
Rauf and Bowden have been replaced by England’s Richard Illingworth and Australia’s Paul Reiffel.
In May the ICC withdrew Rauf from the Champions Trophy list of umpires after Mumbai police arrested him for allegedly being involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal.
However, the ICC once again stated that the police investigation did not have anything to do with his exclusion.
“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,” chairman of the ICC’s umpire selection panel, Geoff Allardice, said. “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.
“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.”
Reiffel was pleased to have been promoted up the ladder after years of honest and hard work.
“When I first started on CA’s Project Panel Umpires program after retiring from first-class cricket, my aim was to reach the highest level of international umpiring,” he said. “It always seemed a long way off so it’s very rewarding and exciting to achieve the goal I set myself when I first started umpiring.
“I’d like to thank Cricket Australia for their support throughout my umpiring career. The umpiring system and pathway in Australia is very good, which is evidenced by the quality of Australian umpires.”
Elite Panel of umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Steve Davis, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Rod Tucker, Richard Illingworth and Paul Reiffel