Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka has been appointed as one of the two on-field umpires for the final at Lord's tomorrow.
Kumar Dharmasena
London: Despite making a howler in the semi-final between England and Australia at Edgbaston on Thursday, that was as blatant as it gets, Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka has been appointed as one of the two on-field umpires for the final at Lord's tomorrow.
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His partner will be South African Marais Erasmus, who also stood in the same semi-final. Dharmasena had ruled England opener Jason Roy caught behind when he looked set to get to a blistering century. Roy tried to hook a Pat Cummins delivery which went down the leg-side. An appeal by Aussie wicketkeeper Carey was hesitantly upheld by Dharmasena.
The most hilarious thing was when Roy instantly asked for a DRS, which had already been used up by Jos Buttler, the Sri Lankan umpire even signaled to the third umpire for the review.
It was Erasmus who walked up to the baffled Roy and told him that there was no review left and he will have to walk back to the pavilion. Roy had a few words with the umpires and even suggested that the delivery was a wide by spreading out his arms. Luckily the outburst cost Roy only 30 per cent of his match-fee and not a suspension which would have ruled him out of the final against New Zealand.
While Roy was penalised for descent, the umpire has been rewarded by the ICC with an honour to officiate in the final at Lord's. Rod Tucker will be the third umpire and Aleem Dar the fourth official. Sri Lankan Ranjan Madugalle will be the match-referee.
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