PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Abysmal · October 9, 2007, 1:43pm

PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen’s ‘cheat’ remark

Lahore, October 9: The PCB has asked its legal advisors to find out if South African umpire Rudi Koertzen had breached any International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct by allegedly describing the Pakistani players as “cheats.”

Chairman of the board Dr Nasim Ashraf is in London to discuss the issue with the ICC and confirm if Koertzen had indeed made such remarks about the Pakistani cricketers.

Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who is fighting a legal battle with the ICC at a central employment tribunal in London over his reinstatement for Test and international matches, has said at the hearing that Koertzen in a telephone conversation called the Pakistanis cheats.

Hair claimed that Koertzen had in March expressed his pleasure at Pakistan being knocked out of the World Cup after losing to Ireland.

Hair has said that Koertzen after exchanging pleasantries on the phone said, “That’s great news, those cheats can now go home.”

The call was made on the phone of Doug Cowie, the umpires manager of the ICC.

A senior official of the PCB said that Ashraf had gone to London for the tribunal proceedings and to talk to the ICC and related people to find out about the statement made by Hair about Koertzen.

"This matter has been taken up very seriously by the

Chairman who will discuss it with the ICC in London and is already finding out the truth with other relevant quarters," Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer of the board said.

I personally don’t believe Koertzen said that, and Hair is just stirring it up in order to get Koertzen and 'more support on his side.

Pakistan shouldn’t take any action and should dismiss it as a Hairy shenanigan.

Sohaib · October 9, 2007, 7:30pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Koertzen is capable of saying that. I recall perfectly the wc 99 group match between pakistan and australia. Shoaib Akhtar was at his best and was troubling Steve Waugh (who was a lone warrior than) with his reverse swing and extreme pace. Shoaib had a run in with rudi about his run up and then a wide delivery in an over (probably 44th of 45th over of aussie chase). Shoaib was arguing with him and Rudi was upset, Akram had to intervene and asked shoaib to cool down. The very next ball, shoaib bowled a perfect reverse in-swinger at blistering pace. Waugh was hit absolutely plumb in front of middle stump. Shoaib appealed vociferously alongwith pakistani fielders and to everyone's horror (including commentator), Rudi said an immediate but loud no and started to look at his right.

That was one of the plumbest (word?) lbw one could ever give. Tony cozier (or Greg) who was comentating then said 'Umpire letting Shoaib know who is the boss here'

That was despicable. So I wont be surprised if he did say those things to Hair.

paki_boy · October 9, 2007, 8:13pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

^^ Exactly! I remember that incident perfectly and was just about to reply to your (Abysmal's) post to mention it. I think the commentator was Bill Lawry and upon seeing the replay, he was like "why was that not given?" and then said Umpire letting Shoaib know who's the boss here.

Rudi is completely capable of saying that.

saieen · October 9, 2007, 10:51pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen’s ‘cheat’ remark

rudi for president

brahmachari99 · October 9, 2007, 11:05pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Hair and Rudi are one of the most biased, racist umpires ever. Both have made busloads of unfavorable decisions against Pakistan and other Asian teams. So yes, Rudi is perfectly capable of saying what he's alleged to have said. And if he did say it and if it can be proven, then he can no longer stand as an ICC umpire.

fair_balance · October 10, 2007, 12:11am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

huh..It will be stupid of PCB to do this. It is a typical He-said---She-said case...nothing will come out of it.

GoldenAsif · October 10, 2007, 12:34am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Yeah that was as plumb as it gets. the commentator was Bill Lawry and Imran Khan was with him in the commentary box. Imran said something like 'that's plumb LBW and a very poor decision by Rudi'

bitter · October 10, 2007, 3:02am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

thats what i was thinking - why get worked up over some silly tete-a-tete

I_m_Kool · October 10, 2007, 3:09am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Yeah. The best course of action would be to bring it forth in everyone's attention but stop short of actually pursuing legal action, which would be impossibly hard either way. It would be awfully hard to make a case against him based on some hearsay evidence.

Faisal · October 10, 2007, 4:55am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

So either Rudi has shown himself to be pre-disposed and biased; or Darrel Hair is an incompetent liar. Considering Hair is still in the elite panel and want to umpire at the top level, it will be best to fully exploit this and investigate it completely.

Best case scenario is that Rudi and Hair will both find themselves kicked out of umpiring at the top level - or at the very least, won't umpire in Pakistan games. Worst case is that Rudi will deny saying this (making Hair a liar) and Pakistan Board will drop the proceedings. And since Rudi has blantantly shown his anti-Pakistan decision-making in plenty of cases in the past, it can't get any worse for Pakistan if Rudi is umpiring a game involving Pak in the future. I just can't see any severe downside if PCB decides to pursue this more exhaustively.

Some1 · October 10, 2007, 5:05am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

The question is ..."Why is the world against Pakistan ?"

Zero_one · October 10, 2007, 9:15am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen’s ‘cheat’ remark

Just wait for the AUS - IND series downunder and see Bhai Sahib … u’ll ask urself the whole universe is against India

If Rudi said that well then action should be taken by PCB against him !!!

BTW Hair did no favour to himself by saying that or quoting Rudi if true.

cricket4life · October 10, 2007, 6:54pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen’s ‘cheat’ remark

Hair elbowed a few other heads on the way through. He accused match referee Ranjan Madugalle of breaching the laws of cricket when he cleared Inzamam of ball tampering, and took several opportunities to cast a bad light on a longstanding friend, the ICC’s umpires manager Doug Cowie.
Most strikingly, Hair took what appeared to be a gratuitous swipe at an unsuspecting friend by revealing that South African umpire Rudi Koertzen had called the Pakistanis cheats during a private phone conversation with Hair during this year’s World Cup in the West Indies.
A stunned Koertzen told The Australian that he had no warning that Hair was going to drag him into the affair, and he was worried that Hair’s claims could damage his career. Pakistan is demanding to know whether Koertzen made the claims.
One Pakistan player who must be as unhappy as Koertzen with the hearings on Hair’s lawsuit is Inzamam’s successor as captain, Shoaib Malik, who saw an embarrassing incident aired by the ICC’s lawyer.
While trying to establish that Hair had a record of heavy-handed behaviour, prominent English barrister Michael Beloff suggested to Hair that he had been officious in the way he handled South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock during a tense one-day game against Pakistan.
Pollock was fined 100 per cent of his match fee after Hair charged him with expressing dissent, but Beloff revealed that while batting Pollock had actually asked Hair to “keep an eye on Shoaib Malik scratching the ball”.
Hair reported Pollock because he believed he was challenging the umpire’s authority, but the exposure of Pollock’s true complaint about Malik will do nothing to improve the mood of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

More news from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22564389-5001505,00.html

paki_boy · October 10, 2007, 7:20pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

Faisal:

So either Rudi has shown himself to be pre-disposed and biased; or Darrel Hair is an incompetent liar. Considering Hair is still in the elite panel and want to umpire at the top level, it will be best to fully exploit this and investigate it completely.

Best case scenario is that Rudi and Hair will both find themselves kicked out of umpiring at the top level - or at the very least, won't umpire in Pakistan games. Worst case is that Rudi will deny saying this (making Hair a liar) and Pakistan Board will drop the proceedings. And since Rudi has blantantly shown his anti-Pakistan decision-making in plenty of cases in the past, it can't get any worse for Pakistan if Rudi is umpiring a game involving Pak in the future. I just can't see any severe downside if PCB decides to pursue this more exhaustively.

Exactly! It's a win win situation for the PCB if they persue it. Either Rudi will prove to be a racist or Hair will prove to be a liar and will lose whatever credibility he has left.

teaser · October 10, 2007, 8:53pm

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

I think as per your thinking :) the question is "Why the world is against Muslims ?" :)

zafar2002 · October 11, 2007, 4:53am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

I wonder what our NATION would be thinking if PCB would have stayed quiet about this issue, won't we all be saying damn we never stand up against anyone?

I think its right for once what PCB is doing. I am sure it would have been a big cry if any of the Umpire would have said against any other teams, specially Aleem Dar saying something like this against Aussies, SA, England.

hellopak · October 11, 2007, 5:28am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen’s ‘cheat’ remark

I think PCB is doing the right thing. They should not only take Hair comments regarding Rudi very seriously rather they should also ask same question from Michael Speed because Hair also mentioned him. This way either Hair lied to the court or these other two accused PCB/Pakistan and ICC. Only way to stop such loose talk from officials in respected positions in the future.

GoldenAsif · October 11, 2007, 5:41am

Re: PCB gearing up to act against Koertzen's 'cheat' remark

PCB should be more worried about the backlash they are likely to face in the wake of this heavy series loss.