The decision was made by the ICC Umpires Selection Panel, which includes chairman Geoff Allardice, the ICC's general manager, and ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka.

Also on the Panel is David Lloyd - an ex-England player, coach, umpire and now a commentator -  and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, the former India captain and international umpire.

Among the 12-strong Elite Panel of ICC Umpires for the 2017-2018 season are the English quartet of Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough and Nigel Llong and the Australian trio of Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel and Rod Tucker.

Completing the line-up are Pakistan’s Aleem Dar, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Dharmasena, South Africa’s Marais Erasmus, New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney and India’s Sundaram Ravi.

The ICC has also retained the same Elite Panel of match referees for the 2017-2018 campaign.

Alongside Madugalle, Australia’s David Boon, England’s Chris Broad, New Zealand’s Jeff Crowe, Zimbabwe’s Andy Pycroft, India’s Javagal Srinath and West Indian Richie Richardson remain on the Panel.

The ICC's Elite Panel of umpires and matches referees comprises the top umpires in the world and was first introduced in April 2002.

In an attempt to ensure the highest possible standards and guarantee impartial adjudication, two umpires from the Panel stand in almost all Test matches around the world, while one member stands with a home umpire from the ICC's International Panel of umpires for One-Day Internationals (ODIs).

On average, each member of the Elite Panel annually stands in eight to 10 Test matches and 10 to 15 ODIs, plus any ICC world events in that year.

The composition of the Panel is reviewed every year.