Former Caribbean skipper Richie Richardson has been appointed as the Match Referee for the three-match T20I series named the Independence Cup between the World XI and Pakistan in September at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. It will be the first time since 2009 that an ICC match official will be overseeing cricket in Pakistan.
The former WIndies skipper has been a member of ICC’s Elite Panel of match referees since January 2016 and has officiated in a total of 11 Tests, 19 ODI’s and 18T20I’s. The decision to make Richardson the match referee was announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board via a press release on Tuesday.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced that the International Cricket Council has appointed Sir Richie Richardson as match referee for the Independence Cup to be played between the World XI and Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium on 12, 13 and 15 September.” It has been a great initiative taken by the ICC to bring back cricket to Pakistan as they have worked closely with PCB to tackle the security issues and till now the player’s body and the Federation of International Cricketers have been satisfied by the security standards.
Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan in 2015 has been the only international tour by a Test playing nation in Pakistan since the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009. The matches during the Zimbabwe tour had to be played with local umpires and match officials. Before Zimbabwe, there were several teams who refused to visit Pakistan as the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus changed the whole conception of the nation and all the members of the touring countries were giving more emphasis on the safety factor rather than anything else.
Slowly but steadily cricket in Pakistan is in the process of resumption and even earlier in the year many foreign stars visited Lahore to play the PSL final.