All five officials -- on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor, TV umpire Rudi Koertzen, reserve umpire Billy Bowden and match referee Jeff Crowe -- were not considered for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

A surreal finish due to a failure to apply standard playing conditions overshadowed Australia's victory over Sri Lanka in the rain-marred final in Barbados on April 28.

"Why should the on field umpires or even the other umpires be held responsible for something which is entirely the responsibility of the match referee," a PCB official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

"The first blunder was when the toss was held despite the rains and inspite of there being a reserve day for the final. The match referee was responsible for ordering the toss.

"And according to the laws, the match referee is the final authority in a match," the official said and asked "so why make all the umpires a scapegoat?" He claimed the match referees' panel was the weakest link in the ICC and the Asian countries would be pressing the ICC Board to do a complete rethink on the matter.

"Even during the Oval Test fiasco last year in August, if match referee Mike Procter had been strong enough Darrell Hair should never have been allowed to do what he did and create a mess. Procter unfortunately shied away from his responsibility and was unable to take a firm decision and it led to a mess," he noted.