By Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S Langton Rusere continues to establish himself as one of the leading cricket umpires in world cricket after being named on the elite list of match officials for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
The global tournament will be played in Muscat (Oman), Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai (UAE) from October 17 to November 14.
The Chevrons will not feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup as they did not take part in the qualifiers for the tournament as they were serving a suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to government interference in the sport.
Despite the Zimbabwe team’s absence, Rusere’s presence will make sure that the country is still represented after being named among the officials to participate in the global tournament.
The International Cricket Council on Thursday announced the appointments for round one matches and the Super 12 phase of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, comprising 20 of the best match officials from around the world.
The 16 umpires and four-match referees finalised for the 45-match tournament include three umpires who will be officiating in their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cups – Sri Lanka’s Aleem Dar, South African Marais Erasmus, and Rod Tucker from Australia.
A 20-strong group means that for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be neutral umpires for all matches of the 16-team tournament.
Rusere has seen his stock rise in world cricket and recently became the first black African to stand in a Test match.
His first international match as an umpire was a Twenty20 between hosts Zimbabwe and India in Harare on 19 July 2015.
Three months later, he made his one-day international (ODI) bow as Zimbabwe took on Afghanistan in Bulawayo.
After that, he went on to officiate at the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 in Bangladesh and the 2017 Women’s World Cup 2017 staged in England.
The highlight of his career so far was being appointed as one of the on-field umpires for the Women’s World T20 final in 2018 between Australia and England in Antigua.
In February last year, he got his first-ever overseas appointment for a bilateral series after he was appointed to officiate in the three-match ODI series between New Zealand and India.
