Umpires announced for India vs England and South Africa vs New Zealand T20 World Cup semifinal clashes | Cricket News
2 min readUpdated: Mar 3, 2026 02:06 PM The International Cricket Council on Tuesday announced its panel of match officials for the 2026 T20 World Cup semifinals. Chris Gaffaney and Allahudein Paleker will be standing on for the match between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Richard Illingworth and Alex Wharf will be the on-field umpires for the first semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Nitin Menon will be third umpire in Kolkata with Rod Tucker as fourth umpire. Javagal Srinath has been made match referee for the game.
Adrian Holstock will be third umpire at the Wankhede Stadium while Paul Reiffel will be fourth umpire. Andy Pycroft will be the match referee.
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England went through to the semi-finals after finishing top of Group 2 in Super Eights, beating New Zealand, Pakan and Sri Lanka. The Kiwis, meanwhile, finished second on account of their superior net run rate to Pakan, with the match between the two sides in Colombo on February 21 being washed out.
South Africa finished top of Group 1 in the Super Eights, beating India, West Indies and Zimbabwe. India bounced back from their defeat in their opening match of the stage to South Africa with victories against Zimbabwe and West Indies to go through. India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final in the 2024 tournament. India are looking to become the first team in the men’s T20 World Cup’s hory to succesfully defend their title. In the process, they would also become the most succesfull team in the tournament hory with this being their third title. They are currently tied with England and West Indies with two titles each.
Semi-Final 1: South Africa v New Zealand
Kolkata, Wednesday 4 March 2026
On-Field Umpires: Richard Illingworth & Alex WharfThird Umpire: Nitin MenonFourth Umpire: Rod TuckerMatch Referee: Javagal Srinath
Semi-Final 2: India v England
Mumbai, Thursday 5 March 2026Story continues below this ad
On-Field Umpires: Chris Gaffaney & Allahuddien PalekerThird Umpire: Adrian HoldstockFourth Umpire: Paul ReiffelMatch Referee: Andy Pycroft
