KOCHI: In a first for Kerala cricket, two former cricketers from the state, KN Ananthapadmanabhan and V Narayanankutty, have been named as the match officials of the U1-9 World Cup to be played in South Africa from January 19 to February 11.
This is the first time Malayali match officials have been picked for an ICC World Cup event in any category.
The duo are the only two Indian representatives in the 20-member panel that have been picked for the tournament by the ICC.
While Thiruvananthapuram native Ananthapadmanaban will be an on-field umpire, his former teammate Naryanankutty from Kozhikode will don the role of a match referee.
The two former teammates turned to match officials after a successful domestic career. Ananthapadmanabhan was elevated to ICC’s International Panel three years back and has stood in 70 ODIs and 18 T20Is at the international level.
The 54-year-old former leg-spinner played 105 first-class matches and claimed 344 wickets.
Part of the international panel of match referees from 2018, Narayanankutty has supervised five T20 international games. A top-order attacking batsman, 56-year-old Narayanankutty played 42 first-class games and scored 1793 runs that included three centuries.
