T20 World Cup 2021: ICC announces match-officials for the semis

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced match officials for the upcoming semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.

The Super-12 stage of the tournament culminated on Monday (November 8) with England, Australia, Pakistan, and New Zealand qualifying for the knockout stages.

The first semi-final will take place between 2019 50-over World Cup finalists England and New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on November 10. This will be followed by former champions Pakistan locking horns with Australia in Dubai on November 11.

Marais Erasmus and Kumar Dharmasena will perform the on-field duties during the first semi-final of this year's T20 World Cup, with Nitin Menon serving as the third umpire. Former Australian cricketers Paul Reiffel and David Boon will serve as the fourth umpire and match referee respectively.

England and New Zealand will be locking horns for the third time in an ICC knockout fixture in the last five years. They met in the semi-finals of the 2016 T20 World Cup where Eoin Morgan's unit came out trumps.

Their last meeting took place during the 2019 ODI World Cup final. The actual game and the subsequent Super Over ended in a tie but England were controversially declared champions on the basis of the boundary count rule.

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Richard Kettleborough, Chris Gaffaney to officiate in Pakistan-Australia T20 World Cup semi-final

The second semi-final will see Pakistan square off against Australia in Dubai. Pakistan are the only unbeaten side in this year's T20 World Cup thus far.

The Babar Azam-led unit beat arch-rivals India and New Zealand in their first two fixtures before knocking over Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia to secure a ticket for the semis for the first time since 2012. Australia, on the other hand, flexed their muscles in their last two fixtures against Bangladesh and the West Indies to pip South Africa on NRR and make it to the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finals.

Their fixture against Australia will be officiated by on-field umpires Richard Kettleborough and Chris Gaffaney. Joe Wilson will serve as the third umpire while Richard Illingworth and Jeff Crowe will overlook fourth umpire and match referee duties.

Meanwhile, this will be the fourth time that Pakistan and Australia will meet in a knockout game in World Cups. Australia emerged victorious in the 1987 WC semi-final, 1999 WC final, 2010 T20 WC semi-final and 2015 WC quarter-final. Pakistan will look to buck the trend, much like they did against India earlier in the tournament.