PAKISTAN ‘SHOULD SUE HAIR’ - IMRAN
(By The Third Umpire)
http://www.stickcricket.com/feature20.html
Stick Cricket’s partner magazine SPIN - www.spincricket.com - has Pakistan legend Imran Khan as a star columnist. We asked Imran what he had made of the day’s bizarre events - and he slammed umpire Hair’s handling of the game, calling for his removal from the ICC’s elite list.
“Unless Darrell Hair can supply concrete proof of ball-tampering, then I think the Pakistan management should seriously consider suing him,” Imran told us. "It’s a very serious allegation to accuse a team of cheating: if I were in their position, I would certainly consider suing Hair.
"When a ball is 55 overs old, it is absolutely impossible to tell if a scratch on the ball has been made by a player’s nail, or from the pitch - which is scuffed up by the fourth day - or from hitting an advertising board.
"Hair needs to present concrete proof that a Pakistan player has wilfully damaged the ball.
"Whatever happens next at the Oval, the ICC should strike Hair off the umpires list. Umpiring is not about pedantic, literal application of the rulebook: the umpire’s role is two-fold. First, to take charge of the game. But, just as importantly, to keep the game going, to be conciliatory: you don’t put out fires with gasoline.
"That’s why Dickie Bird was such a great umpire: he made mistakes sometimes. But he always went out of his way to be conciliatory. There was never any controversy when he was umpiring. With Hair, there’s ALWAYS controversy.
"Pakistan have been unhappy with Hair’s umpiring before: it’s his manner, as if he wants to stamp his authority on the game. These kind of umpires do so much damage to the game.
"If he thought the ball had been tampered with, Hair should have given Inzamam a warning - instead of immediately jumping in and suggesting that ball tampering had occurred.
**"Inzamam made a big mistake: he should have taken a stand on the spot when the ball was changed. Not coming out after tea was the wrong kind of protest. The captain’s job is to focus on winning the game. The manner of the protest has lost Pakistan valuable time in a game they looked like winning.
"Inzamam should have called in the team management as soon as Hair decided to change the match ball.**
“Apart from anything else, changing the ball disadvantaged Pakistan - the new ball didn’t swing.”
"If Inzamam had decided not to come out after tea as a protest - why then did he eventually come out with the team? Everything looked chaotic. There were all sorts of PCB officials in the dressing room.
"Every team gets the ball to swing after 50 overs. By Hair’s logic, England shouldn’t have won the Ashes last summer - they only beat Australia thanks to reverse swing.
“Pakistan are very sensitive to allegations of cheating. When Wasim and Waqar were bowling reverse swing in England in 1992, there was such a huge tabloid campaign suggesting they were cheating. Last year, England won the Ashes with reverse swing and people like Simon Jones were national heroes, so it’s understandable that Pakistan are very sensitive to these kind of allegations.”
- Interview copyright SPIN magazine/stickcricket.com - reproduction of excerpts MUST be accompanied by a credit for SPIN/Stick Cricket or a link to the site. Or we’ll sue.
I’m suprised Khan sahab disagreed with Inzi’s actions. No one would have understood that the Pakistan team is protesting if they didn’t stay in the change rooms. Besides, the team was ready to resume play, it was the umpires who were acting out of context and refusing to come out.
I personally feel Pakistan did the right thing to forfeit the match for the sake of racism in International Cricket. Sacrafices like this sometimes have to be made!
) … until later in the day, the PCB gurus forced them to take the field, which they should have avoided! 
I think he hit the nail on the head on every issue. Good to see Gora’s supporting Pakistan on this issue…even Botham :k: