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Cammie Smith appointed match referee for Coca Cola Cup
Rex Clemenetine
July 9, 2001
Cammie Smith has been appointed as the match referee for the forthcoming
Coca Cola Cup between Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand and the three-match
Test series between Sri Lanka and India.
The 68-year-old Bajan, a former West Indian wicketkeeper batsman, is no
stranger to Sri Lanka. He officiated the three-match Test series between Sri
Lanka and Australia and the AIWA Cup that preceded that series in 1999.
Smith also visited Sri Lanka last year as the official ICC delegate to
inspect the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium and
controversially gave the green light to it hosting it's inaugural one-day
match against England in March 2000.
Smith has a reputation as one of the more lenient match referees in the
world, which may be a relief to some of the Sri Lankan players who spent an
inordinate amount of time and handed over a considerable proportion of their
match fees to Match Referee Hanumant Singh during the ill tempered England
tour.
Cammie Smith, however, has attracted criticism for his leniancy. He
officiated in the heated three-match Test Match series between Australia and
India earlier this year and was widely slated by the Indian media for
letting off Michael Slator with a warning after an ugly finger-wagging
incident with umpire Shrinivas Venkatragavan after a catch was disallowed.
Steve Buckner and Dave Orchard will be the independent umpires in the Tests.
Buckner, who was here last year to stand in the first and the final Tests
between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, will stand in the first two Tests while Dave
Orchard, who officiated the last Test between England and Sri Lanka this
year, will stand in the final Test.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is yet to name the officials who'll stand in the
matches. When contacted by CricInfo, Director Umpiring, K.T. Francis said
that the names of the officials are yet to be approved by the Interim
Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL).
© Cricinfo
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