Dar, Erasmus chosen to umpire Ashes opener

Umpires Aleem Dar and Marais Erasmus will be handed the responsibility of officiating the first Test between Australia and England.

Umpires Marais Erasmus (l) Aleem Dar and England's Kevin Pietersen.

Umpires Marais Erasmus and Aleem Dar will be reunited for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba. (AAP)

Aleem Dar, the umpire who helped Stuart Broad create so many headlines during the 2013 Ashes, and Marais Erasmus are set to be in control of next week's first Test.

Dar and Erasmus will be handed the responsibility of umpiring the Ashes opener, according to an International Cricket Council (ICC) list of officials for the five-Test series between Australia and England.

Dar's not-out verdict at Trent Bridge in 2013, after Broad edged a delivery to Michael Clarke at first slip, proved one of the major talking points of that series.

Broad stood his ground, angering plenty of Australian players.

It remained a hot topic come the fifth Test, during which coach Darren Lehmann was fined by the ICC for comments made in a light-hearted radio interview.

"Certainly our players haven't forgotten, they're calling him everything under the sun," Lehmann quipped.

"I hope the Australian public are the same because that was just blatant cheating. I don't advocate walking but when you hit it to first slip it's pretty hard.

"I just hope everyone gets stuck into him because the way he's carried on and the way he's commented in public about it is ridiculous.

"He hit it to first slip ... and the biggest problem there is the poor umpire cops all the crap."

Chris Gaffaney, Kumar Dharmasena, Sundaram Ravi and Joel Wilson will also umpire Tests during the Ashes series.

Richie Richardson, who helped restore a degree of order after this year's heated Test between Australia and India in Bangalore, will be match referee for the opening three Ashes Tests.

It remains unclear whether officials will heed the advice of David Warner, who last month called on them to take a more lenient approach to minor incidents.

"I would like to see it like State of Origin. Let things just flow on and you deal with everything afterwards. Let a couple of penalties go and get on with it," Australia vice-captain Warner said, outlining plans to be more vocal on the field.


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Source: AAP



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