 Hair appointed to new Australian high performance panel
10th Jul 2008 14:00 IST
Agencies
In 1995, Hair called Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan repeatedly for a suspect bowling action. He subsequently did not officiate a match featuring Sri Lanka for eight years - even though the ICC officially stated that no country can dictate which umpires officiate their matches.
The ICC cleared Muralitharan of chucking and revised its rules on bowling actions. Muralitharan is now the leading all-time wicket taker in Test cricket.
Hair was only reinstated to the ICC's elite panel of umpires in March after a 16-month ban following the forfeited test between England and Pakistan at the Oval in August 2006.
Hair had accused Pakistan of ball tampering and docked them five runs and, when the team refused to take the field after a break, he and umpire West Indian Billy Doctrove awarded the match to England, the first forfeit in 129 years.
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India were among the countries demanding Hair be fired after the Oval forfeit.
The ICC later cleared the Pakistan team of ball tampering, but banned captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for four one-day matches for bringing the game into disrepute.
The decision to overturn the forfeit and register the result as a draw was made at an executive meeting last week in Dubai.
Hair, who had umpired 76 tests and 131 one-day internationals and been a consultant for the MCC's laws committee for two years, was allowed to return after he completed a so-called 'rehabilitation program' him handed him in September when he agreed to drop a claim of racial discrimination by the ICC. |
