Vishwanath in ICC referees' panel

India's Gundappa Vishwanath is among four distinguished former Test cricketers named by the International Cricket Council on Friday to its new panel of match referees.

The four join former Sri Lanka captain Ranjan Madugalle, who was named chief referee in December last year.

Besides Vishwanath and Mudugalle, former Test players Clive Lloyd (West Indies), Mike Procter (South Africa) and Wasim Raja (Pakistan) are in the panel.

"This is an outstanding group of former internationals who are respected for their achievements throughout the cricket world," said ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed in a statement.

Between themselves, the new panel has the experience of having played almost 300 Test matches, with Lloyd, Madugalle and Vishwanath being former captains.

All Test-playing countries were asked to nominate candidates for the referees' panel and more than 30 nominees were screened and interviewed by Mudugalle. The final appointments were made jointly by Speed and Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee-Playing.

Mail Cricket Editor