Bangladeshi umpire Shathira Jakir Jessy is set to become the first women umpire from the country to officiate in a Cricket World Cup at any level as the ICC has named her as one of the 20 match officials who will stand in the forthcoming ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup in Malaysia, beginning this Saturday.

Jessy, a former Bangladesh women's team cricketer, is the first female umpire appointed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and most recently stood at the 2024 Women's T20 Asia Cup.

She was likely to stand as an umpire in last year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, however, after the tournament got shifted to the UAE at the last minute, her dreams of officiating in a major ICC event were crushed.

Now, she will get to fulfil her dream at the age-level World Cup.

"Congratulations to the umpires and match referees who have been selected to this event," said ICC senior manager – umpires and referees Sean Easey, highlighting the diversity of the officials appointed as he looked ahead to the tournament that gets underway on January 18.

 "These individuals have earned selection by performing well in bilateral cricket. It is a wonderfully diverse group, just like the game that they represent.

"Similar to the players at this event, these officials have been identified as having high potential. We are confident that they will perform well and that some will progress to officiate at the higher levels of the game."

Match Officials for ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup 2025:

Umpires: Ashlee Gibbons (Australia), Shathira Jakir Jessy (Bangladesh), Gayathri Venugopalan (India), Narayanan Janani (India), Aidan Seaver (Ireland), Nitin Bathi (Netherlands), Rizwan Akram (Netherlands), Rahul Asher (Oman), Saleema Imtiaz (Pakistan), Shivani Mishra (Qatar), Kerrin Klaaste (South Africa), Dedunu De Silva (Sri Lanka), Vijaya Prakash Mallela (USA), Candace La Borde (West Indies), Maria Abbott (West Indies), Forster Mutizwa (Zimbabwe)

Match referees: David Gilbert (Australia), Dean Cosker (England), Trudy Anderson (New Zealand), Reon King (West Indies)