Mark this date on your calanders as the Darkest Day of Cricketing Game !
Which has exposed many racist and diabolical hidden feelings from many quarters which were otherwise hidden or supressed in the past !!! 
:k:
This thread will be a reminder to us all every year inshallah! like 9/11 ,
:insha: 
Pakistan - The proud nation stands alone against Gora Superemos, Bring’em on ! 
Re: DARK DAY of Cricket Game - August 20, 2006
The only positive which could come out of this ugly incidence is that the fat [EMAIL="b@ast@rd"]b@ast@rd a$$ gets fired.
Lets hope that Pakistan gets rid of their biggest nemesis on cricket field, due to the events which took place on this darkest day of the game.
Re: DARK DAY of Cricket Game - August 20, 2006
Dark day indeed. I think Ramiz sums it up nicely when he says “..what is a win at the cost of your honour?”
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/august-2006/21/index1.php
Pakistan in the crossHair
From Ramiz Raja
at the Oval
The star of the show definitely was umpire Darrel Hair, but as a villain of the piece. His arbitrary and insensitive style of judgement here at the Oval sparked an absolutely needless controversy that put the match in serious jeopardy and brought infamy to the game.
Even when the cricket boards of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had protested on his appointment, the ICC’s rigid stance on appointing him for sub-continental matches had to backfire one day.
There have been problems galore with Hair around before. Hair is always keen to forget that cricketers make the play possible and thus are far more important than anyone else on the ground. He polices the game and has never tried to make friends with the sub-continental players to have a good atmosphere.
And players from the sub-continent universally feel that he is biased, even to the extent of being a racist.
So with all this negative background, and serious protests by the boards, it was really flabbergasting to see the ICC installing him once again in a Pakistan game.
And grossly aggrieved, the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and the team were in their right to protest. The pride of an entire people has been tarnished by his ludicrous and highly insensitive decision. And I’m sure the Pakistan captain would not have changed his stance and entered the field again had he not been bulldozed by the diplomatic pressure.
The implications of this incident are far-reaching as nobody had a clue as to who was in charge of the game. The umpires and referees are employed and posted by the ICC, the global cricket body and they are responsible for the conduct of the game. And it was therefore quizzical to see ECB and PCB getting involved into sorting out this mess.
The incident surprised us all as well as the Pakistani captain. The ball was replaced because the umpires, led by Hair, believed that it was tampered with. Without any warning to the captain (even though the law does not specify that this should be done), penalised Pakistan for ball-tampering and awarded five penalty runs to the opposition at 2.30 GMT. Not only that, but as per the law, the batsmen were allowed to choose the replaced ball.
I am commentating here for the Sky television, and we have here a most high profile team of commentators and around 26 cameras that catch every moment of the action all the time throughout the day. Not one did catch a Pakistani fielder or a bowler tampering with the cherry.
It was therefore a subjective decision, not backed by any evidence, as neither was it witnessed by anyone nor caught on the camera.The rumour had it that Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, had gone to the two umpires a day before the game and privately suggested to them that they keep a vigil on Pakistani bowlers once it starts to reverse swing. His exhortation obviously had Hair as a keen listener, who was happy yet again at being given an opportunity to go after a South Asian side.
Pakistan’s bold stance has certainly exposed Hair. Will it be the end of the road for him? If it is, it would not be a day too soon. But it is indeed sad that it has taken such a huge incident to remove a distasteful bully from the scene.
Having said that, it is quite likely that the ICC would not go against its own personnel, even though they may be bad at the job, and back the umpire’s decision of a ‘forfeited game’.
If the umpires’ case was to be upheld by the ICC, then Inzamam could also lose his job for the first two one-dayers (I don’t see one-day series hampered or derailed by this episode). This as the captain is supposed to guard the spirit of the game, which according to the umpires has been maligned by Pakistan’s alleged ball-tampering.
Knowing Hair’s rigidity and ICC’s equally inflexible stance on backing its employees, It was expected that game would be called off. The incident has overshadowed Pakistan’s great comeback in this Test match. Some may say that Pakistan has certainly denied itself an opportunity of winning at the Oval, but what is a win at the cost of your honour?
Re: DARK DAY of Cricket Game - August 20, 2006
We Will Always Remember
Re: DARK DAY of Cricket Game - August 20, 2006
I’m so much distrubed by all this that I could not sleep a blink, went to work like this and now juct got back, hoping It was a nightnmare and all is well now, No such luck!
I still insist that Pakistan Should take HISTORICAL decision now and surrender it’s Test Status and it;s ICC membership back to it’s bone haed, suited terrorist’s prejuidced bastqrds on a platter on televison broadcats to the world,
ICC Goray Khanzeer ki auladain - suar ki jahanami shaklain
Re: DARK DAY of Cricket Game - August 20, 2006
I can relate to ur emotions Raindance. I am in the same boat as you!