Toony™®
21st August 2006, 02:02
AN 18-stone Aussie called Darrell Hair trampled his feet all over the name of cricket with an astonishing display of pig-headedness.
Umpire Hair’s refusal to see sense or abandon his misguided pride meant England became the first team in history to win a Test match by forfeit.
Hair was the central figure in a bewildering day of controversy, anger, stubbornness and ultimately disgrace.
Everybody else — the players, the Boards, the match referee and most of all the 12,000 spectators with tickets for today — wanted the npower Fourth Test to be completed.
But Hair plonked his considerable bulk in the way as a row over ball-tampering escalated into a Test match being curtailed a day and a session early.
England’s victory gives them a 3-0 series victory, although they would probably have lost this game.
The row erupted when Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove accused the Pakistan team of ball-tampering.
When Pakistan twice refused to retake the field in protest, the officials awarded the game to England.
And, even after more than three hours of talks, they refused to budge.
It was a staggering example of overbearing officials applying the letter of the law without a consideration for the wider implications.
It all added up to the biggest diplomatic incident surrounding an England match since Mike Gatting’s infamous bust-up with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad 19 years ago.
On this occasion, however, England were bemused bystanders as the farce unfolded. The problems started at 2.30pm when Hair and Doctrove decided the ball had been doctored.
The implication was clear — the umpires believed the scuffing was caused by the fingernails of one or more of Pakistan’s players rather than through general wear and tear.
It was tantamount to the umpires accusing Pakistan of cheating. The tourists were so incensed their players refused to come out at 4.45pm after a break for bad light and tea.
Hair and Doctrove were on their own out in the middle as England batsmen Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell waited at the foot of the steps and the Pakistan dressing-room door remained closed.
The umpires wandered off but, a few minutes later, tried to resume play once more. This time, Collingwood and Bell went out with them but again the Pakistanis refused to budge. Hair and Doctrove symbolically removed the bails insisting Pakistan had forfeited.
Next came 30 minutes of negotiations involving bigwigs such as ECB chairman David Morgan, chief executive David Collier and Pakistan Board chairman Shahriyar Khan and tour manager Zaheer Abbas.
Then, at 5.25pm, Inzamam-ul-Haq and his players came out to play. But there were three things missing — the England batsmen, the stumps and umpires.
If Inzy and his players demonstrated wounded pride by their refusal initially to take the field, the umpires took their principles to ludicrous levels.
Nobody doubted who was setting the agenda in the umpires’ room. Hair is no friend of Pakistan or any Asian team. In the mid-90s he first called Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking in a Test.
Pakistan made an official protest about his standing in this match after several of his decisions went against them at Headingley last week. Pakistan were not happy with some controversial Hair decisions during last winter’s series against England, either.
England had reached 230-3 yesterday — still 101 runs behind — when Hair and Doctrove decided the condition of the ball had been altered illegally.
Batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Collingwood were allowed to choose a replacement ball. Hair then signalled five penalty runs awarded to England — the first time any team has been penalised runs in a Test for ball tampering.
The offending ball was beginning to reverse swing sharply and Alastair Cook was trapped lbw by Umar Gul.
Gul was removed from the attack immediately and the replacement ball refused to swing at all.
The crowd was kept disgracefully ill-informed throughout the fiasco.
Oh, you want to know about the cricket? Andrew Strauss scored 54 (confidently), Cook 83 (luckily) and Pietersen 96 (aggressively) as England cut their deficit to 33 with six wickets standing.
umpire bashing!
Umpire Hair’s refusal to see sense or abandon his misguided pride meant England became the first team in history to win a Test match by forfeit.
Hair was the central figure in a bewildering day of controversy, anger, stubbornness and ultimately disgrace.
Everybody else — the players, the Boards, the match referee and most of all the 12,000 spectators with tickets for today — wanted the npower Fourth Test to be completed.
But Hair plonked his considerable bulk in the way as a row over ball-tampering escalated into a Test match being curtailed a day and a session early.
England’s victory gives them a 3-0 series victory, although they would probably have lost this game.
The row erupted when Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove accused the Pakistan team of ball-tampering.
When Pakistan twice refused to retake the field in protest, the officials awarded the game to England.
And, even after more than three hours of talks, they refused to budge.
It was a staggering example of overbearing officials applying the letter of the law without a consideration for the wider implications.
It all added up to the biggest diplomatic incident surrounding an England match since Mike Gatting’s infamous bust-up with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad 19 years ago.
On this occasion, however, England were bemused bystanders as the farce unfolded. The problems started at 2.30pm when Hair and Doctrove decided the ball had been doctored.
The implication was clear — the umpires believed the scuffing was caused by the fingernails of one or more of Pakistan’s players rather than through general wear and tear.
It was tantamount to the umpires accusing Pakistan of cheating. The tourists were so incensed their players refused to come out at 4.45pm after a break for bad light and tea.
Hair and Doctrove were on their own out in the middle as England batsmen Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell waited at the foot of the steps and the Pakistan dressing-room door remained closed.
The umpires wandered off but, a few minutes later, tried to resume play once more. This time, Collingwood and Bell went out with them but again the Pakistanis refused to budge. Hair and Doctrove symbolically removed the bails insisting Pakistan had forfeited.
Next came 30 minutes of negotiations involving bigwigs such as ECB chairman David Morgan, chief executive David Collier and Pakistan Board chairman Shahriyar Khan and tour manager Zaheer Abbas.
Then, at 5.25pm, Inzamam-ul-Haq and his players came out to play. But there were three things missing — the England batsmen, the stumps and umpires.
If Inzy and his players demonstrated wounded pride by their refusal initially to take the field, the umpires took their principles to ludicrous levels.
Nobody doubted who was setting the agenda in the umpires’ room. Hair is no friend of Pakistan or any Asian team. In the mid-90s he first called Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking in a Test.
Pakistan made an official protest about his standing in this match after several of his decisions went against them at Headingley last week. Pakistan were not happy with some controversial Hair decisions during last winter’s series against England, either.
England had reached 230-3 yesterday — still 101 runs behind — when Hair and Doctrove decided the condition of the ball had been altered illegally.
Batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Collingwood were allowed to choose a replacement ball. Hair then signalled five penalty runs awarded to England — the first time any team has been penalised runs in a Test for ball tampering.
The offending ball was beginning to reverse swing sharply and Alastair Cook was trapped lbw by Umar Gul.
Gul was removed from the attack immediately and the replacement ball refused to swing at all.
The crowd was kept disgracefully ill-informed throughout the fiasco.
Oh, you want to know about the cricket? Andrew Strauss scored 54 (confidently), Cook 83 (luckily) and Pietersen 96 (aggressively) as England cut their deficit to 33 with six wickets standing.
umpire bashing!