July 12, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 8, 1429

LONDON, July 11: The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) which has responsibility for the Laws of Cricket, will ask the International Cricket Council (ICC) to overturn its decision last week to change the result of the forfeited Test match between England and Pakistan at The Brit Oval in 2006 to a draw.

This verdict, Keith Bradshaw, the secretary, will say contravenes the spirit of the game as well as the Laws.

The club’s world committee is also opposed to any alteration to Law 21, which states that result should not be changed. “Cricket is worse for this decision and it was opposed unanimously by the ICC cricket committee, on which I sit,” he said.

David Morgan, new International Cricket Council president, said he had also opposed the decision by the governing body, which overruled its cricket committee.

In addition, Robert Griffiths, QC, who represented Darrell Hair, the controversial umpire who accused Pakistan of ball-tampering, at his tribunal hearing against the ICC, claimed the ruling was “unprecedented and dangerous. The ICC had no power to change the result.”

Law 21(10) says: once umpires have agreed with scorers the correctness of scores, result cannot be changed.

The reasoning is vacuous. It was, officially, based on view that in light of unique set of circumstances, original result was felt to be inappropriate.

This is even though ICC board member witnesses admitted under oath at Hair’s tribunal that umpires decisions were in accordance with the Laws.

The ECB, which abstained from the vote, said it had no knowledge that Pakistan intended voting.

“We were happy to refer this to the ICC cricket committee but would not have been if there had been a move to overturn a result brought about through a technical umpiring decision,” the ECB said.—Agencies