August 30, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 5, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Aug 29: Pakistan have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to hold an inquiry into umpire Darrell Hair's conduct in the Oval Test before captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's disciplinary hearing.

After the cancellation of the ICC executive board meeting in Dubai on Sept 2, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has written a letter demanding an urgent investigation into Australian Hair's conduct during the fiasco.

“The PCB feels it was Darrell Hair who brought the game into disrepute at the Oval and not Pakistan,” spokesman Ateeq-ur-Rehman said on Tuesday.

He said that the PCB had also reiterated that Hair would not be accepted as an official in future matches involving Pakistan.

ICC President Percy Sonn announced on Monday the cancellation of an emergency meeting which was to discuss the Oval test controversy.

Sonn said he had consulted each director of the ICC member countries and they decided the meeting was unnecessary because they were all well aware of the circumstances that led to Pakistan forfeiting the fourth and final Test.

Hair sparked a major incident when he penalised the Pakistan team five runs for alleged ball-tampering.

Inzamam was charged on two counts by the ICC after the visitors failed to return to the field after tea in protest against Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove.

The controversy took a twist when ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed later announced that Hair had asked for $500,000 as a one-off payment to quit the ruling body's elite panel of umpires during discussions with umpires' manager Doug Cowie.

The hearing against Inzamam is now scheduled for late September but the PCB said it was confident he would be cleared of all charges.

“PCB is confident that not only Inzamam but the team will be exonerated of the charges made against them,” Ateeq said.

Sonn had indicated that despite Hair's offer to quit the disciplinary charges against Inzamam would not be dropped or reversed. “We have processes in place to deal with the code of conduct matters and we should not seek to interfere with it,” he said.

The ICC confirmed later on Tuesday they had received a request from the PCB to hold an inquiry.

An ICC spokesman said that PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan had written to the global governing body asking that Hair's conduct be ‘thoroughly investigated’ and that such an inquiry should take place before disciplinary charges against Inzamam were heard.—Agencies