BRISTOL, Aug 28: The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Monday that its emergency board meeting in Dubai on Saturday, called following Pakistan's forfeit of the fourth Test against England, had been cancelled.
The tourists refused to take the field at The Oval a week last Sunday having earlier been penalised five runs for ball-tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove – a decision that created the first forfeit in 129 years of Test cricket.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was then charged with ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute, throwing the future of their tour of England into doubt.
It then emerged that controversial Australian official Hair had offered to quit as an umpire in return for $500,000, an offer he later withdrew.
Both the issue of Inzamam's case, still to be heard, and Hair's future as an umpire were set to be discussed by the ICC board this weekend at its Dubai headquarters.
But in a statement, ICC president Percy Sonn said: “Last week I felt it necessary to call a meeting of the board of directors to brief them on the end to the Test match at The Oval and subsequent events. That meeting was due to take place this coming Saturday.
“However, having had the chance to contact the directors and seeing they have an understanding of the situation I have decided this course of action is not necessary so I have decided to cancel the meeting.
“I sent each director a note last Friday and will telephone each of them over the next couple of days to further explain what has happened over the past week and ensure they understand the process from here onwards.
“There has been much speculation over the past few days about whether the executive board has the power to overturn a properly laid charge by the umpires.
“That speculation would only be bound to intensify ahead of the weekend and so by cancelling the meeting it will allow everyone to get off that particular topic and focus on the cricket to be played this week instead.
“The original intention was to seek legal advice concerning the executive board's powers but I do not believe it is necessary to obtain that advice,” the South African added.
“We have processes in place to deal with code of conduct matters and we should not seek to interfere with it.”
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan said: “We understand the need for the hearing to go ahead for the reasons explained by the ICC President Mr Sonn.
“In the meantime, we are delighted at the chance to get back to playing cricket, starting with the Twenty20 international against England and with five One-day Internationals to follow.”
The date for Inzamam's hearing will be confirmed in due course but it is likely to be in the second half of September, the ICC statement added.
Inzamam's original hearing, scheduled to take place in London on Friday, was postponed because ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle was unable to hear the case because of family illness.—AFP