LONDON: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday announced the umpire and match referee appointments for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, which will be staged in the United Kingdom from 24 June to 23 July. Australia will defend the title, while other teams to feature in the 30-day tournament include host England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. The tournament will be contested on a single-league basis with the top four sides qualifying for the semi-finals, with the final at Lord’s. The 11th edition of the tournament, which was first staged here in the United Kingdom before the men’s event in 1973, will see four women umpires officiate, the highest number yet for an ICC global event. They are: Kathy Cross of New Zealand, Sue Redfern of England, Australia’s Claire Polosak and West Indies’ Jacqueline Williams. The nine men’s umpires, who are from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires, are: Gregory Brathwaite, Chris Brown, Anil Chaudhary, Shaun George, Adrian Holdstock, Ahsan Raza, Langton Rusere, S. Saikat and Paul Wilsom Cross will be officiating in her fourth ICC Women’s World Cup, while the other three women umpires–Polosak, Redfern and Williams will be making their World Cup debuts. Richie Richardson of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, and Steve Bernard and David Jukes, both from the ICC Regional Referees panel, will be the match referees for the eight-team tournament in which 31 matches will be played in Bristol, Derby, Leicester, Taunton with the final at Lord’s. This will be the third ICC Women’s World Cup for Jukes, while Richardson and Bernard will be officiating in the women’s pinnacle event for the first time. Raza and Brathwaite will be the on-field umpires for the tournament opener between host England and India in Derby on 24 June. George will be the TV umpire and Wilson the reserve umpire. Richardson will be the match referee. This will be one of the 10 matches which will be broadcast live on television, with DRS being introduced into the women’s game for the first time. In the other match on the same day, which will be live-streamed, New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka at Bristol. This match will be umpired by Polosak and Chaudhary, with Redfern as the reserve umpire and Jukes as the match referee. Umpire and match referee appointments for the semi-finals and final will be announced after the teams have been confirmed.