Pakistan to host international fixtures, match officials announced:

Sri Lanka will tour Pakistan for a three-match T20I and two-match World Test Championship series. In between the two series, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will also play a One-Day International tri-series. Today the panel of match officials for the next 12 international matches to be played between 9 October and 21 November has been announced.

Jeffrey Crowe, a member of ICC’s Elite Panel of match referees and former New Zealand Test cricketer, will head the playing control team for all seven matches of the showpiece ODI tri-series from October 18-31 in Rawalpindi and Lahore. Crowe was first appointed to officiate a Test match in the October 2004 Faisalabad Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Earlier this month, the New Zealander played 350 ODIs and became only the second man to umpire 700 international matches.

The ODI tri-series will be officiated by members of ICC Elite Panel of Umpires including Ahsan Raza (Pakistan) and Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid (Bangladesh) and ICC International Panel Umpires including Wayne Knights (New Zealand), Asif Yaqoob, Nasir Hussain, Rashid Riaz Waqar and Faisal Khan Aafreedi.

As on-field umpire, Knights will partner Asif in the first match of the tri-series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka and will take his tally to 37 ODIs as Umpire.

Ahsan will be the on-field umpire in the last two games of the ODI tri-series, joining Sharfuddoula for the Sri Lanka v England clash in Lahore before standing in the field with Knights in the final. Faisal and Rashid will take charge of a match apiece while Nasir will take charge of one and Asif of two.

Sharfuddoula and Knights will rotate in the role of third umpire during the tri-series, with the latter starting in the series opener.

Dean Cosker, a former England first-class cricketer and member of ICC’s Emerging Match Referees Group, will lead the playing control crew for the first time in Tests when Sri Lanka meet Pakistan in Rawalpindi and Lahore. He has officiated 16 ODIs, 17 T20Is, three WODIs and six WT20Is since making his debut in October 2024.

The on-field umpires for the two Tests will be members of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires Adrian Holdstock, Allahuddien Paleker from South Africa and Australia’s Rodney Tucker. Holdstock and Tucker will be the on-field umpires in the first match at Rawalpindi while Palekar will join Holdstock in the second Test.

Palekar will be the third umpire for the first Test while Tucker will be the third umpire for the second. Faisal Aafreedi and Asif Yaqoob will serve as the fourth umpire in the first and second test respectively.

ICC International Match Referee Ali Naqvi will be the match referee for the three-match T20I series which will be played on October 9, 11 and 13. Rashid Riaz and Nasir Hussain will be the umpires on the field in the first match while Faisal Aafreedi will be the umpire with Nasir in the second. Faisal will come in the third on-field with Rashid.

Faisal, Rashid and Nasir will be the third umpires in the three T20Is respectively, while Tariq Rasheed – PCB National Elite Panel Umpire – will be the fourth umpire in all three T20Is.