Bucknor goes into his 5th WC final; Dar ready for his first

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 27 (UNI) While everyone is raving about Australia making it to their record fourth successive World Cup final, a 60-year-old man is all set to go one better -- Jamaican Steve Bucknor.

The veteran umpire has been appointed by the ICC today to oversee the Australia-Sri Lanka final in Kensington Oval in Barbados tomorrow, making him the only one in the history to feature in a record-breaking fifth successive World Cup final.

Apart from Bucknor, the other on-field umpire will be Aleem Dar of Pakistan while former New Zealand skipper Jeff Crowe will be the Match Referee.

The third umpire will be Rudi Koertzen of South Africa and the fourth umpire is New Zealander Brent Bowden.

The officials for the tournament have been sponsored by Mumbai-headquartered real estate and construction giant HDIL, the same organization that sponsored the umpires and match referees at the ICC Champions Trophy in India last year.

Highly respected in the cricketing fraternity, Bucknor, will be making an unprecedented fifth successive appearance in an ICC Cricket World Cup final, having stood in the last match of the 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 tournaments.

The only officials who came close to that mark are Harold Dickie Bird (1975, 1979 and 1983) and David Shepherd (1996, 1999 and 2003), who both stood in three finals.

Shepherd officiated with Bucknor in the 1996, 1999 and 2003 deciders but his retirement in 2005 meant there was always going to be at least one official standing in Saturday's match who was new to the final and 38 year-old Aleem Dar has been given that honour.

Television official Koertzen, 58, passed Shepherd's record for on-field ODI umpiring appearances earlier in the tournament.

Koertzen has now stood in 174 matches compared to Shepherd's previous mark of 172 and on Saturday, he will fill the role he also undertook in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup final when Australia defeated India in Johannesburg.

Forty four-year-old Bowden of New Zealand completes an umpiring team full of experience with the four men between them having stood in the middle in 537 ODIs.

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