speculative reports tha Darrell Hair will be sacked at the end of the two-day ICC executive board meeting, which began in Mumbai yesterday.


This would be typical of a cricket body not enforcing / supporting their senoir officials something we have seen over and over.
Some wont be happy until we have Third rate umpires officiating international games and if the speculation is true it is a loss to the cricket world as we all know Hair to be a man of integrity. It seems as the ICC has allowed him to be discredited in the name of keeping certain teams in the game. from the abc.net

Quote:Hair sacked from ICC panel: reports
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AM - Saturday, 4 November , 2006 08:10:00
Reporter: Paula Kruger
ELIZABETH JACKSON: In breaking news this morning, there are reports that the International Cricket Council is preparing to announce its decision to sack Australian Umpire Darrell Hair from its elite panel.

The announcement is expected to be made at the conclusion of a two-day ICC executive board meeting, which began in Mumbai yesterday.

Pakistan blamed Hair when they forfeited the Oval test against England in August after they were penalised for alleged ball tampering.

AM's Paula Kruger spoke to the ABC's cricket commentator, Jim Maxwell.

JIM MAXWELL: Given what occurred at the Oval a few months ago it's no surprise that this is the case, because quite obviously the case against Inzamam-ul-Haq in terms of ball tampering wasn't proven.

And so from that moment on Darrell's credibility has always been in question.

And given the politics of international cricket, and the fact that the sub-continental countries probably have the power bloc, have most of the votes, and he has been on the nose in that part of the world for some time, I suppose it's no surprise that if it came to a vote Darrell's got pushed.

PAULA KRUGER: Was it the ball tampering issue that would have swayed the board, or was it that famous email where he asked for about half a million dollars to resign?

JIM MAXWELL: Well, we're still not sure about the process that took place as far as that email was concerned and the payout for half a million dollars.

I just think it's got to the point where Darrell's well and truly on the nose as far as most of the teams that carry the votes in international cricket are concerned, and this was the final straw. I mean, he has lost the confidence of those people, and as a result it's come to pass that they've had to come up with this decision.

It's a shame, because Darrell has been one of the best international umpires, he's been a man full of conviction, and great strength of character.

But you've got to play the game, unfortunately, and he's got on the wrong side of it.

PAULA KRUGER: So what would there be for Darrell Hair now?

JIM MAXWELL: Well, given that he lives in England, there's still the opportunity if he wants it to continue umpiring there at a first-class level, still not sure of the overall ramifications of this. If he's left off the elite panel, he may well still be under a secondary panel. I think we just have to wait for the detail to come through.

But if he wants to continue umpiring, there'd certainly be an opportunity for him to do it in England. But he might think this is the time to do something else.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The ABC's cricket commentator, Jim Maxwell, talking to AM's Paula Krueger.

It`s a difficult one. I just assumed, wrongly perhaps, that it had now all been resolved once the case against Inzi had been dealt with, but of course that didn`t involve the whole of the cricketing governing representatives.

I have to say though if I was Hair I`d probably find it a struggle to continue in view of what`s gone on. Pity is he really is a good umpire in so many ways. :?

Undoubtedly F1 he was a great umpire, i only find it disturbing his employers have failed him in such a public way. I guess they have done it this way to leave the door open for him to seek recourse through the legal system , which i would hope he will do. The slur is immense.

Australian umpire Darrell Hair has been barred from umpiring any international matches, declared by ICC president Percy Sonn said today.

"He shall not be appointed to officiate in any international games until the end of his contract," Sonn said in a news conference at the end of a two-day ICC meeting.

Pakistan blamed Hair when they forfeited the fourth test against England last August after they were penalised for alleged ball tampering and awarded England five runs.

Angry Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to lead his team back on to the field after tea. and Inzamam's move prompted the umpires to award the match to England - the first forefiture in Test cricket's history. Later an ICC inquiry cleared Inzamam of tampering charges. The decision to remove Darrell hair from the elite panel of umpires by the ICC is the culmination of a chequered past. Hair has been involved in many controversies even before the Oval Test fiasco.

This man has always been at the centre of controversy. With 76 test matches, the fourth most experienced umpire in the world has been studded with controversies. Pakistan were upset at being accused of cheating and instead had blamed umpire Darrell Hair for being biased against teams from the Indian sub-continent.

Interestingly, before The Oval Test, Pakistan had objected to him standing in the series finale. They made strong objections saying that Hair is not acceptable as an umpire in any of future Pakistan matches. The ICC's executive board was put under severe pressure from the Asian Boards and Hair had to be dropped. Hair was one of the 10 elite umpires and had earlier been kept out of the ICC Champions Trophy citing security reasons.

Hair made his umpiring debut in 1992 and three years later he walked into the biggest controversy of his career. Hair no balled Muthiah Muralitharan seven times for throwing. Darryl Hair missed out umpiring in the 1996 World Cup for that, even though he was recognised as Australia's best umpire.
In his autobiography in 2001 Darry Hair then described Murali's action as diabolical. In 2002 the ICC left him out of the elite panel of umpires after these comments.

In 2004 it was Hair who gave Sachin Tendulkar Leg before after the ball hit his helmet. And last November, the 53-year-old umpire upset Pakistan by ruling captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq had been run out by a throw from England bowler Stephen Harmison back to the wicket-keeper during the Faisalabad Test, even though the batsman appeared to be taking evasive action.

The Darrell Hair controversy also puts a question mark on the ICC's selection of the elite panel which many believe is too small and overworked. The ICC now needs to look into this aspect of the game as the credibilty of cricket has been dealt a severe blow by this.

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