I can't believe Ajmal has been able to bowl for so long: Hair
62
SYDNEY: Timid officiating has allowed a generation of 'chuckers' to flourish in international cricket and the current crackdown on bowlers with illegal actions has arrived two decades late, according to former test umpire Darrell Hair.
Pakistani's Saeed Ajmal is the highest profile of a string of spinners who have been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently for bending their elbows beyond the 15 degrees allowed while bowling the ball.
The forthright Hair famously called Sri Lankan off-spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan for the offence during a test at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1995 and said the ICC should have taken action back then.
“Whatever they're doing now, they're doing 20 years too late,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.“
They had a chance in 1995 to clean things up and it's taken them 19 years to finally come back and say they want chuckers out of the game.
“I can't believe that Saeed Ajmal has been able to bowl as long as he has, and they say he is bending his arm by 45 degrees or something. Well, every man and his dog would have known that.
“I suppose what it does show is the general weakness of the umpires over time to do anything about it.”
Muralitharan, whose action was later cleared by the ICC after biomechanical analysis, went on to become the leading test wicket taker of all time despite also being called for throwing by Hair's compatriot Ross Emerson in Adelaide in 1999.
Hair said the way Emerson had been treated after the call during a one-day international between Sri Lanka and England -- he was stood down and never officiated another international match -- had made umpires reluctant to report illegal actions.
“The fact was that no other ICC umpires were willing to have a go. Ross Emerson was very adamant about his thoughts about chuckers but they soon put him into the background,” he said.
“I suppose I was lucky I had a few games under my belt so they didn't want to target me, but they certainly got him out of the way fairly swiftly.
“It'll be interesting to see how many umpires are brave enough to get involved in it.
“I said it in the late '90s that if something wasn't done about it you'd have a generation of chuckers on your hands and now you have.”
The clampdown has been welcomed by many in the game, even if some have questioned its timing so close to next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (62) Closed
Oct 13, 2014 02:05pm
Look who is talking!
This guy is lucky to breath fresh air otherwise, if it had been a proper conviction he would be rotting in the jail. We all remember his email in which he demanded 500,000 USD as bribe with his fellow countrymen Simon Taufel.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:16pm
Well...he is a known racist!
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:20pm
Well a hint...one more year Muhammad Amir is going rise from the Ashes. prepare a plan now before its too late
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:24pm
There is no point in crying victim all the time and close our eyes to our errors. They have not banned Ajmal after creating a rule overnight, its a simple stated rule which Ajmal has breached. Rather than crying victims, its better to see which other bowlers are doing that and bring it to ICC's notice. If any bowler from Big 3 is doing that, raise the voice and complain, if not, dont complain and be a cry baby and blame the world for your failures.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:24pm
@Harmony Might be but whatever he said is correct here. Why should we allow chuckers in cricket?
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:24pm
@Harmony In his defence, he has never once uttered a single word against another person's race.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:38pm
And now Muraidharan is part of Australia back staff
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:41pm
The clean up job is not done by the ICC but BCCI.They decided to do it late because they were having Harbajan Singh as their main spinner till 2013.Now that he is permanently outside the team and the BCCI chielf has his favourite Chennai boy R-Ashwin in the team,there we go now... :)
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:46pm
Remember the bouncers ruling,
reverse swing alien, dosra not in
the Webster dictionary,what are
these things being thrown at us
should we follow ?
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 02:58pm
@Kashmiri dimaag accha chala lete ho..kuch film wgrh ki stories likho..ya koi book..it will be best seller in Pakistan. cz lots of fools believe duh stories.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 03:04pm
Chuckers should not be allowed otherwise it is not cricket......something else.....Murli should have banned long back in 1995......Also all these chukers should be disqualified and their records should be un-accounted.....for sure.....lets play FAIR.....!1
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 03:04pm
@khanman - yeah as if world is loosing sleep over his comeback...even imran ,waqar and waseem were also lucky that they could take so many wickets coz of ball tempering .. nowdays since camera follows so pak bowlers are not able to tamper ball ..so there is no reverse swing and no wickets now..how many chuckers u will produce so called ur great bowlers - saqlain, ajmal ,shoaib akhtar so many of them
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 03:36pm
@Kashmiri Dude..Are you serious. You guys won't spare a remotest chance to blame India in anything. India or BCCI did not have any hand in reporting Ajmal. We would have thrashed Ajmal any time anyday with our batting lineup
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 03:47pm
I also cant believe one thing and that is Murli as a Spin consultant for OZs... now tell me who is chucking
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 03:58pm
He is a forthright guy who called spade a spade. Hat's off to him. Great he is still around to see what he said vindicated.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 05:18pm
As a cricket fanatic I personally cannot agree more with Hair's comments, Ajmal should have been banned a long time back. Now I am not saying this because I'm an Indian but if a bowler is bending his arm more than 15 degrees (which I believe is more than enough to add mystery) then he is violating a rule. For the good of Pakistan cricket such cricketers should not be encouraged as your youth look upto players like Ajmal and make him role model. Within a matter of few years you will have a whole generation of young kids with illegal actions (this already happened in the subcontinent).
Any player irrespective of his nationality he should be banned if he have a dodgy action. I'm hoping someone will call out Ravichander Aswin as I personally believe he have a dodgy action too. End of the day the beautiful game should be preserved, if people start chucking lets call our game baseball and not cricket. Period
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 05:20pm
Yeah, look who's issuing a statement against Ajmal, Darrell Hair, one of the most biased umpires against Pakistan.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 05:35pm
this hair guy is a joke
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 05:45pm
and i m amazed how u were able to umpire into so many matches
cheat
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 06:38pm
@khanman By that time Pakistan cricket will be done and over with.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 06:40pm
@Kashmiri Conspiracy theorist!
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 06:45pm
We as Pakistanis may fabricate all the theories-because we are good at it-only in fabricating theories. But reality is that Ajmal is out of our national eleven. All we are doing is spoiling our name more. From positives-we went down to zero and now we are in negative. We are bitter but delusional, wrong but pretending righteous, lost but claiming to know the way.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 06:47pm
That same old racist fool!!
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 06:58pm
He is racist or not,it is a different debate, but what he is saying is 100% right. Murli as well as Ajmal both are chuckers, and ICC should have sort these things out 20 years ago.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 07:02pm
Yes Mr. Hair the world also surprised how umpire like could officiate matches for so long? both things are sign of bonless ICC
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 07:17pm
Really! and then why was R.Ashwin been rested for WI series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!you do realize all the bowlers reported so far are all off-break spin bowlers.Personally I think it is a very clever move on BCCI part :)
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 07:34pm
@khanman once a thief always a thief probably deliberately make pakistan lose the World Cup we don't need extra help in losing
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 07:49pm
Darrell Hair needs to keep his mouth shut. What he says is non-sense. He is a cheat and will always be one. He is biased and racist against non-white teams. He should have been banned for life and even sent to jail for asking for bribe.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 08:25pm
Good to see a typical pakistani reaction on this board, instead of accepting the fault and working towards a solution we look for others to blame. This is a conspricy by the foreign hand, non state actors Bla Bla
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 08:27pm
Go and watch youtube videos and see how you haven't given plumb lbws to Pakistan. But actually there were much more occasions where he clearly cheated, you were also lucky enough to go for so long as a umpire even a blind man and blind dog knew about it.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 08:39pm
Only in a country like Pakistan will a known cheat be a hero... Mohd. Amir sold your countrys pride for a few thousand dollars and yet he is a hero and eagerly awaited for a comeback. Wonder what would you do if a soldier does the same.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 08:47pm
well the funny thing is that Muralitharan is part of a coaching staff of Aussies....vow how ironical does that sound. and anyways I do agree that BCCI has a major role in this saga than anybody else. Lets see who have a courage to report Harbhajan or Aswhin...they do bend but how much, it can only be verified by the test Ajmal had gone through. As from naked eye, it didn't appear that he bent anything near to 40, so better check Harbhajan and Ashwin as well.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 08:52pm
After reading the comments on this page its very easy to belive there are 1billion+ Indians in the world. And majority of them seem to spend time commenting negatively on anything related to Pakistan. Get a life guys.....
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 09:02pm
The biggest racist and corrupt umpire in history of cricket who asked for bribe himself is stating this.
Ajmal was cleared 5 yes ago so it's not an ex-umpires decision to comment on it.
At least Pakistan is accepting the decision of Icc unlike Ecb who came like a cry baby in 2012 because none of their bowlers was in best bowlers nomination.
Anyway who care about what hair says...
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 10:17pm
Hair was notorious for his bias against players from the subcontinent. He had run ins with Dri Lankans, Pakistanis & Indians. he was finally banned after a series of extremely pathetic umpiring decisions. The fact that such incompetent & Racist guys were allowed to officiate reflects on the way ICC was run at that time.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 10:31pm
Hair was a corrupt umpire who had demanded money. I cannot believe he was allowed to umpire for so long. Clean umpiring first before touching the bowlers.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 10:39pm
I cant' believe Hair is allowed to speak on a cricket related matter.
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 10:47pm
To be honest all bowlers would fail the 15 degree test. It seems ICC is only after off-spinners, even though most fast bowlers have jerking action. They all need to be tested before the world cup under similar testing conditions. This would resolve all issues once for all...Isn't it true....
Recommend
0
Oct 13, 2014 11:48pm
I can not believe Murlitharan was able to bowl this long. Also, Brett Lee was a chucker.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 12:00am
@PunjabiJatt
after all a jatt. No matter what.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 12:39am
@Amir Khan - One doesn't have to utter a racist word to be a racist. Actions speak louder than words and reading between the lines.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 12:55am
Umpires David Constant and Dariel Haire always made mistskes which favoured the home sides.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 01:21am
@Ashiq Ke Rasool none is ever at the top,up and downs is part of life.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 01:25am
@Sumandar khan you have issues with his theft or his bowling? what he did was bad. tell me you didnt do mistakes .if he is fair now what the problem give the kid a chance and if did it again i am with you but he deserves a second chance and i have a feeling he will be extra careful now infact i am sure if it, you might nor agree with me but someday when there will be a news of him in dawn do reply in comments and tell me that yeah you were right , else i will reply and apologies
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 01:38am
I cannot believe this racist was kept as an umpire for so long in Cricket.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 02:35am
@atif best comment lol
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 02:44am
@obaid you are very right. If we see their bowling actions in slow motion, then they all have some degree of bend. Glenn McGrath, Brett lee, swann, Botha.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 02:55am
Frankly, Mr. Hair can't believe Asians have been allowed to play cricket for over 67 years.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 03:05am
Eliminate 15 degree bend of elbow. Make it ZERO. That is who I played and bowled. Straight Arm and any person would know you are throwing with elbow bent.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 03:06am
@PunjabiJatt We will make him a politician, in India ;)
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 03:18am
They are scared of Ajmal as they were from Murali. If they can't play anyone, they create controversies or try to ban/destroy players repute by naming them in anti-corruption scandals. He's a known racist, I strongly believe people like him, BCCI and ECB are a biggest threat to game.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 03:24am
@Sher Hair is a racist for sure. What is the definition of a chucker, if the ball is thrown it is a chucker ball. The new angle rule is created by Australia and England to halt the domination of countries like Pakistan and Sri-Lanka or WI. Remember the hockey rules were changed in the early 90's after which the Asian teams lost their dominance. Hockey became more of a physical game rather then the art of short drabbing. Here is an excerpt of the rule changes:
in1987 the rule was changed from being offside in an opponent's half moved up to the 25 yard line. However, neither of these changes led to the increase in goals anticipated because defense teams soon learnt to adjust the offside trap. But it did open a whole new element of the game, namely the long high scoop / lob in behind the defense for a cherry picker to run onto the ball. But this led to more interpretation notes on danger and allowing the defender reasonable "access" to the ball once the ball had dropped to the ground. In 1995, the offside rule was dropped as an experimental rule change – and finally eliminated in 1997.
After that Asian hockey team lost their dominance in field hockey.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 03:35am
@Rashid
But do not forget that both Ajmal and Murali had been cleared by Australian bio-labs.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 05:13am
Fair enough that a chucker should not be allowed to bowl. Now what about sledging, verbally abusing your opponent on the field that the Aussies consider an art and has been doing for decades? How come no one has talked about banning sledging or the "good of the game"?
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 06:06am
@A Pakistani Not true...statistics shows that his decisions were far more accurate than others, after video scrutiny...the most biased umpire was ??? Shakkoor Rana
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 08:42am
I hv read some +ve nd some -ve comments here..its good to read some positive comments by readers...thats put some oxygen and faith in crickets laws..@ ad zad @yasin @Loluddin
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 08:45am
@Kashmiri as far as speen and doosra is concern..thats not problem for subcontinents batsman..they can able to play very well nd ajmal is not problem for india and srilanka..
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 09:30am
i can't believe he umpired International matches for so long
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 01:38pm
@Adeel No-one is stopping umpires to complain if they find someones action suspicious.
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 06:12pm
Everything that has a beginning has an end...
Recommend
0
Oct 14, 2014 06:15pm
There should be an ICC law for sub standard umpires too...who knows Mr. Hair took money to blame Pak for tempering....after all he did asked for money.
Recommend
0
Oct 15, 2014 06:50am
Mr. Hair I can't believe a person of your character and utter lack of integrity was allowed to stand as umpire for that long. Keep your racist bigotry to your self!!
Recommend
0
