Top local cricket umpire Roger Dill departed for Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday night, bound for the 2006 International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup Finals.

Dill, 48, is scheduled to officiate in two warm-up matches, beginning tomorrow, and four preliminary World Cup fixtures involving hosts Sri Lanka, Uganda, Scotland, 2004 Under-19 World Cup champions Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand.

The Under-19 World Cup finals run from February 5 to 19 with 16 teams in four groups scheduled to play 44 matches at five different venues in and around Colombo.

Dill, a former Western Stars right arm off-spinner, will officiate at the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) which hosted its maiden first-class match in 1927 when a team of Europeans played the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The CCC also hosted three Test matches in the 1980s featuring New Zealand and Pakistan.

This will be the Bermuda Fire Service sergeant?s fifth international cricket assignment and first since officiating in Namibia last October when Bermuda played the host country.

Dill, now in his ninth year of umpiring, is a member of the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association, West Indies Cricket Umpires Association, Americas Elite and the ICC Affiliates and Associates Panel formed in April, 2005 to provide umpires from the 86 member countries below Test level with a pathway towards officiating in the higher echelons of the game.

Dill continues to take full advantage of the new ICC initiative.

?It should be quite interesting because in most of these tournaments today you are mentored by umpires who have stepped down from officiating at the top level,? he told .

A 12-man team of umpires have been selected for the Under-19 World Cup, including eight from the Emirates International Panel and four from the Associate and Affiliate Panel.

?They have a real professional approach to the game, are well experienced and make you feel very comfortable in that we are all a team,? Dill continued. ?At that level it is all about team work and building each other?s confidence together and this is where team work really comes in.

?You get to learn from them and they are very appreciative of sharing their knowledge and are very open and willing to part with different techniques and approaches to the game. And just being in that circle you get to feel their professionalism and they take things very seriously.?

Dill is set to officiate tomorrow?s warm-up match involving Pakistan and Australia and will be assigned to the middle for Friday?s warm-up fixture between the West Indies and New Zealand.

The top local umpire will then officiate matches involving Sri Lanka and Scotland, Uganda and New Zealand, Uganda v Bangladesh and New Zealand and Pakistan when the World Cup officially kicks off this Sunday.

Dill is due to arrive in Sri Lanka today having travelled via London and Dubai where the Island?s 2007 World Cup-bound national cricket squad are currently touring.

And once the senior official arrives he will do so hitting the ground running as all umpires, match referees, team coaches and managers will convene for vital pre-tournament discussions.

?It?s almost like a whole day seminar. We will meet so that everybody understands what the tournament is all about and what is expected of each participant,? said Dill, whose own performances will be assessed by captains and match referees.

?At this level everything is done in accordance with a procedure.?