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New face behind the stumps

Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Friday that Karl Hurter has been appointed as its Match Officials Administrator and that KwaZulu-Natal’s Babalo Gcuma had been promoted to the National First-Class Panel of Umpires.

Gcuma has been officiating as an Emerging Panel umpire for the past seven years and his performances have earned him promotion to officiate at the Professional Level.

Karl Hurter’s appointment as the first permanent CSA Match Officials’ Administrator is part of the overall restructure of the match officials system.

“I am pleased to welcome Karl Hurter as the first full time CSA Match Officials Administrator and, with his vast umpiring experience, we expect him to play a vital role in ensuring that CSA continues to produce world-class match officials,” commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.

“Congratulations to Babalo on his promotion to the First-Class panel,” said Mr Lorgat.  “Our match officials can easily be compared with the best in the world and I must acknowledge the key role they play in making South African cricket a world leader.

“We will continue to create opportunities for them to progress, notably through our exchange programmes with Australia, India and New Zealand.”

Marais Erasmus, Johan Cloete, Shaun George and Adrian Holdstock have retained their positions on the ICC International Panel after receiving favourable feedback in international matches.

Marlon Jansen, Jurie Sadler and Abdoellah Steenkamp have been appointed to the Pilot Panel after showing great promise over the past few seasons in CSA Select Tournaments.

The respective panels for the ensuing season are:

National First-Class Panel

Murray Brown, Johan Cloete, Marais Erasmus, Babalo Gcuma, Shaun George, Adrian Holdstock, Earl Hendrikse, Ian Howell, Bongani Jele, Brian Jerling, Allahudien Paleker, Gerrie Pienaar, Dennis Smith and Brad White

Amateur Panel

Rudi Birkenstock, Roderick Ellis, Lourens Engelbrecht, Stephen Harris, Bernard Harrison, Ryan Hendricks, Clifford Isaacs, Clive Joubert, Lester Leendertz, Bryan Mantle, Jack Morton, Stephen Rex, Faizel Samsoodien, Irvin Van Kerwel, Phillip Vosloo, Laurance Willemse and Jeff Wolhuter

Pilot Panel (previously known as Emerging Panel)

Marlon Jansen, Jurie Sadler and Abdoellah Steenkamp

Match Referees

Tiefie Barnes, Devdas Govindjee, Barry Lambson and Shahid Wadvalla

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