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| September 29, 2006 | Friday | Ramazan 5, 1427 |
Hair won’t take part in Champions Trophy: ICC
LONDON, Sept 28: Darrell Hair, the Australian umpire who accused Pakistan of ball-tampering, will not take part in the ICC Champions Trophy in India.
The International Cricket Council announced the decision on Thursday after banning Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for four one-dayers for bringing the game into disrepute.Inzamam was found not guilty by a disciplinary hearing at The Oval in London of the more serious charge of changing the condition of the ball during last month's fourth Test against England.
It was the accusation of ball-tampering by umpires Hair and Billy Doctrove of West Indies that led to Inzamam preventing his players from returning to the field after tea on the fourth day on Aug. 20.
That action by the Pakistan captain led to the first forfeit in Test history and the charges against him.
The ICC cited ‘safety and security’ reasons for leaving Hair off the Oct 7-Nov 5 Champions Trophy, which includes all major cricket-playing nations.
The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaharyar M. Khan, said Hair should have already been prevented from umpiring his country's matches because of its long-stated unhappiness at his officiating.
“It was a time bomb waiting to go off and it went off,” Shaharyar said. “We had a problem with his attitude. We did not have a problem with his ability.”
The PCB wants Hair to be removed from all Pakistan's future matches, he added.
He noted that when Sri Lanka had problems with Hair in 1995, the ICC stopped the Australian from umpiring its matches for eight years – even though the ICC officially states that no country can dictate which umpires officiate their matches.“With us, when we conveyed this feeling ... we had Darrel Hair four times (series) in succession,” Shaharyar said. “We feel very aggrieved.”
Tournament host India demanded on Tuesday that the ICC omit Hair from the Champions Trophy because his presence might provoke spectators.
Hair said the outcome would not affect his future in the game, which had been in doubt since shortly after the abandoned Test when e-mails he sent to the ICC offering to resign in exchange for $500,000 were published.
Hair denied that he felt he had been made a scapegoat over the issue by the ICC.—AP
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