Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, 47, who last year became the first Bangladeshi umpire to officiate at a World Cup, has become the first to join the elite panel. The umpire, who has been on the international panel since 2006, said it was a "great honour" to become the first Bangladeshi to join the ICC's Elite Umpires' Panel.

"Being the first from my country on the panel makes it even more special and I hope to justify the trust placed in me. It's a great honour to be appointed to the ICC Elite Panel," he said in an ICC statement. The Elite Umpires' Panel is responsible for umpiring most men's Tests and One-Day Internationals, while the Match Umpires' Panel also oversees Twenty20 Internationals.

A former spin bowler, Sharfuddoula was forced to end his first-class career due to a back injury that prevented him from continuing with the sport, although he would remain involved in cricket from other angles. 

Following this incident, he joined the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as Cricket Operations Manager. He then resigned from the BCB to become an umpire and to date has officiated in 10 Tests, 63 one-day internationals and 44 Twenty20 internationals.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice described him as "a well-deserved reward for many years of consistent performance". Sharfuddoula joins three other England umpires on the panel: Michael Gough, Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough, and Australians Paul Reiffel and Rodney Tucker. 

Also on the panel are Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena, New Zealand's Christopher Gaffaney, South Africa's Adrian Holdstock, India's Nitin Menon, Pakistan's Ahsan Raza and West Indies' Joel Wilson.

The ICC also announced that England's Chris Broad has resigned from the panel of elite umpires. Broad, who has been a member of the panel since 2003, has umpired 123 Tests, 361 one-day internationals and 135 Twenty20 internationals. 

The ICC's Elite Panel of Umpires now consists of six members: David Boon of Australia, Jeff Crowe of New Zealand, Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka, Andy Pycroft of Zimbabwe, Richie Richardson of the West Indies and Javagal Srinath of India.