Geoffrey Boycott has lambasted Darrell Hair for attempting to “play God” in his handling of the forfeited fourth Test between England and Pakistan. Boycott, now a respected media commentator, also took a swipe at Hair over his failure to show any contrition after the ICC overruled his decision to call Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for ball tampering.
Inzamam was cleared of the charges on Thursday after a disciplinary hearing at which Boycott, along with television analyst Simon Hughes, was asked to examine the ball Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove had deemed to have been interfered with. Both experts testified that the condition of the ball was as consistent with normal wear and tear as deliberate scuffing.
The umpires’ decision to impose a five-run penalty prompted the Pakistanis to refuse to play, a protest which caused them to forfeit the match.
Hughes said on Friday that he believed Hair had been “guessing” as to the condition of the ball, but Boycott went much further in his column in the Daily Telegraph. “Hair is the first man to apply the five-run penalty for ball-tampering and he got it wrong,” Boycott wrote. "He is also the first man to call a Test match forfeited, and I believe he got that wrong too. “Another change I expect to see is that the umpires will not be able to award the match to one team without involving the match referee,” he added. “At The Oval, the whole thing was done and dusted in 11 minutes. I’m sorry, but it’s too big a deal for that. We don’t want umpires to be allowed to play God like this ever again.”
^^ Send him a PM or post in the appropriate thread, why post in this one
Well written by Boycott, the umpires have been given a little too much of free hand by the ICC and though very few take advantage of the leeway but those who do can cause big problems. There should be a limit to what an umpire can and can not do. I mean the two on field umpires seems to have more authority then anyone else then whats the point of having a match refree, two extra umpires etc. Match refree was in favor of continuing the match yet the two on field umpires refuse to stand in, well then the match refree should have had enough balls to say screw you and put the 3rd and 4th umpire out there to officiate. I am sure if Proctor had pushed hard Black Billy would have pee’d his pants and agreed to go out and then use one of the reserve umpires to cover the other end. Hair would have learnt a lesson not to play god in future.
An objective and strictly unbiased point of view. The single stroke of lightning that I greatly felt had hit the nail on its head is noted below -
I have always lobbied in favor of the likes of Geoffery Boycott and Imran Khan who have the guts to put these issues out in the open in front of the entire world. You know as well as I do, that the school of thought such as the one mentioned above is too taboo to be headlined in even the smallest newspaper that there is to be found. Yet, when the moment arrives and the right time strikes the clock, it is essential that these can of worms be thrusted upfront for everyone to take notice.
