October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 2: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday dismissed Australian umpire Darrell Hair’s claim that he was prevented from officiating in top matches because of racial discrimination by the game’s global body.

Hair is suing the International Cricket Council (ICC), telling a tribunal in London on Monday that he was kept out of big games to appease non-white cricketing countries. He alleges the discrimination followed his joint decision with fellow umpire Billy Doctrove of the West Indies to penalise Pakistan for ball tampering in the fourth Test against England at The Oval in August 2006.

“Hair’s charges are incorrect. What happened to him was because of his own inappropriate behaviour as a Test umpire,” the PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf told reporters. “And since this is a case against the ICC all the Test playing members can testify and I am also ready to go to London,” he added.

“There was no racial discrimination involved and it was a board decision against Hair,” said Dr Nasim of the ICC board’s decision taken in November last year in Mumbai.

Robert Griffiths, Hair’s lawyer, also claimed there had been a ‘Watergate’ style cover-up of an ICC Board meeting attended by Dr Nasim last November.

He said that part of a tape-recording of this meeting, at which it was decided that Hair should not continue to umpire at the highest level, had gone missing – a claim denied by Dr Nasim.

“I was part of that three-member meeting and there was no tape. This is not correct,” said Dr Nasim.

He also denied reports of Inzamam-ul-Haq being summoned by the employment tribunal where Hair is seeking damages.

“I have no knowledge of Inzamam being summoned, and he has not contacted the PCB either. Inzamam is not a British citizen and he is not obliged. But if he wants he can go and testify. The PCB will certainly testify.”

The ICC President Ray Mali also denied the racism claims before attending the first day of the hearing in London on Monday.

“We are here today because we are an organisation that believes in fairness, justice and equality,” Mali said. “We believe racism was never an issue in this matter.” —Agencies