Darrell Hair, the Australian umpire who accused Pakistan of ball tampering during the Oval Test in August against England this summer, has been banned from umpiring in internationals

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Mumbai04-Nov-2006

Hair’s fate has been confirmed © Getty Images
Darrell Hair, the Australian umpire who accused Pakistan of ball tamperingduring the Oval Test in August against England this summer, has beenbanned from umpiring in internationals. The announcement was made by PercySonn, the ICC president, at a press conference in Mumbai at the end of atwo-day ICC meeting.”The board has discussed this matter with great sincerity,” said Sonn,”and gave lots of attention to it and they’ve come to the conclusion thatthey’ve lost confidence in Mr Hair. They’ve given instructions to themanagement to discuss Mr Hair’s future with him. I think we owe Mr Hairthe courtesy of allowing his future to be discussed by him with ourmanagement before we go anywhere further in the matter. He shall not beallowed to officiate in any future international games until the end ofthis contract.”However, both Malcom Speed, the CEO of the ICC, and Sonn made it clearthat there was “no issue” about the result of The Oval Test. “With regardto compensation, there is a claim by the ECB against the PCB. That isunresolved. It may end up being referred to the ICC disputes resolutioncommittee but at this stage there’s been no request for that to happen.”Both also confirmed that the future of Billy Doctrove, the other umpireinvolved the Oval drama, was secure adding, “The executive board didn’tdiscuss Doctrove”.It was widely rumoured yesterday that Hair’s future was in doubt, when areliable source at the ICC leaked the news to a TV station in India. “TheAsian bloc comprising India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh tabled amotion at the meeting that Hair be taken off the panel,” the source said.”The motion was put to vote and was passed by a 7-3 majority. The fourAsian nations plus South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies votedagainst Hair. England, Australia and New Zealand wanted him to continue.”Pressure from the four-nation Asian bloc has seemingly forced the ICC’shand and Hair will no longer be permitted to officiate in internationalsinvolving any full member side. Speed revealed that he’d spoken to Hairlast night, after the decision was taken and added that they will make aneffort to protect Hair’s interests. “I’ve said a number of times thatI hope we can find a way for Darrell to umpire,” he said. “The board hasresolved that they don’t wish Darrell Hair is appointed to umpireinternational matches. I spoke to Darrell yesterday after the decision wasmade. I told him about it and he was very disappointed. David Richardson,who is the ICC General Manager of Cricket, and myself will speak toDarrell over the next few days and talk about what it means to him.”ICC has a number of lawyers on staff, who are well aware of our legalposition,” he continued when asked if the ICC had considered the legalrecourse that Hair might consider. “It’s correct that Hair is contractedtill March 2008. But we need a little time to discuss the matter with him,to protect whatever interests he has.”Speed also made it clear that this wasn’t a decision taken at the spur ofthe moment, confirming that the board had considered the issue in detail.”The ICC board – which consists of 13 representatives from the membercountries – was presented with a very detailed paper that rain into 15-20page. The board certainly had a lot of information before it started itsprocedure yesterday. They had two hours of discussion on the issue. As itwas reported the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had lodged a formal chargeunder the ICC code of conduct. That was also considered by the board. Thiswas no knee-jerk reaction. The board had a good deal of information infront of it as is the case of any decision on the board.”