LEEDS, Aug 4: "Umpire gives Inzy out before a ball is bowled," is the prediction. The Nostradamus is Oxy, writing on Pakistan cricket forum pakpassion.net.

The man raising his finger is Darrell Hair. It commemorates the day Hair tried to bury Pakistan.

Hair has a track record. He called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. Inderjit Singh Bindra, former president of the BCCI, questioned his impartiality and right to umpire internationals.

Billy Doctrove runs Hair close at the top of Pakistan's list of undesirables. In 2000, he helped West Indies stop Pakistan winning their first series in the Caribbean.

Guess what? Both champions are umpiring this Test, and at Headingley — scene of Graham Gooch's 1992 run out by a mile (not given) and Sikander Bakht's infamous 1982 bat pad that was all pad (given) — Pakistan should have expected a hammering from the umpires. They sure got it.

England won the toss and posted a half-century opening partnership but Pakistan could have, and should have by rights, seized the match.

First, Hair reprieved Andrew Strauss, a caught behind hindered by Pakistan's late appeal. Then Hair freed Kevin Pietersen on two.

A huge inside edge off Shahid Nazir — registering seven on the Richter scale — brushed Pietersen's thigh pad on its way through. Pakistan danced, Hair was statuesque.

Pietersen pointed to his thigh. Pakistan were cheated.

Not to miss out on the party, Doctrove struck: another inside edge, this time Alastair Cook from Sami, bat well clear of body. Doctrove, first match on the elite umpiring panel, turned down the appeal.

A decision that prompted a riot of expletives, interestingly in English, from Inzamam now stirred to a state of fury.

England should have been five down by lunch, echoes of 1987. A remarkable outcome since Sami began the morning jogging in, spraying the ball generously. Later, he returned with greater energy, better direction. But the world is left wishing for the firebrand bowling over 90mph.

Perhaps Sami's energy disappeared with his hair, a Samsonian trait new to Pakistan.

His fellow short-back-and-sides merchant, Umar Gul, kept England at bay, with a probing spell of fine line and perturbing movement that earned him four scalps. He would finish the day on a high.

But Shahid Nazir returned to international cricket after seven years with a line even finer and movement more perturbing. Pakistan finally resembled a Test bowling attack, albeit a medium-paced one.

The umpires, though, continued their fine form after lunch. Hair gave Pietersen another life on twenty. In the world of fair play he was leg-before to Kaneria.

On twenty-nine he was again caught Kamran bowled Shahid, but Hair — no evidence of eagle eyes until then — spotted a no-ball. Then Pietersen, on a hundred and four, was dropped by Salman Butt, once more off Shahid.

Pietersen's third innings of the day was his best. Pulling, driving, and forcing with such brutality that he injured his left elbow. He may have retired hurt, embarrassed.

As the final session drifted away and back towards Pakistan, Shahid struck Hair with a misdirected throw. It was some kind of retribution but nowhere near enough. Pakistan, Shahid Nazir, and the team huddle had deserved better.