Ball tampering, cheating, Darrell Hair and being no closer
So a day has passed since one of the most controversial test matches in Test history since the Bodyline tour was officially forfeited. If you don’t know about this - where have you been? OK, I’ll let you off. There’s enough accusations flying around without me starting on you. Sorry.
Anyway - 24 hours on and where are we? Well, still floating about in a cloud of confusion. This argument is going to rage and rage, until everyone gets really bored, and then remembers that the Ashes are but a few months away.
A few things have emerged:
1. Inzy is going to feel the brunt of this.
Inzamam-ul-Haq has been charged with bringing the game into disrepute along with changing the condition of the ball and, if found guilty, faces a ban of up to eight ODIs or four Tests. The ICC have confirmed that Inzamam will face a Code of Conduct hearing on Friday in London.
(Cricinfo)
His role in this is simply that he’s the captain of the side. And since no allegations of ball tampering have yet been directed at a specific player, he’s going to be the fall guy. Presumably it was his idea to make the protest. This seems harsh - Inzy conducted himself quite admirably during the whole furore, and whether the protest was right or not, you can’t blame the guy for defending his team’s honour. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer reckons that if Inzy gets a ban, then the ODI series will get the can, despite words to the contrary from President of the PCB Shariya Khan.
2. The facts surrounding the actual ball-tampering offence are still unknown
Neither the umpires (Darrell Hair / Billy Doctrove) nor the match referee (Mike Procter) have made any kind of official statement as to what the alleged offence was. They haven’t singled anyone out. They haven’t said “at this this point this happened”. Television footage has not been able to provide anything. About the only thing we know is that one defence was that KP had been carting the ball in to the stands, so some damage was natural. Apparently, KP only started hitting sixes after the ball was changed. SO that scuppers that argument. But that’s not to say that a 56 over old ball hadn’t been thrashed in to the advertisement boards a few times.
Until such time that something more official is said about what was supposed to have actually occurred - this is issue isn’t going to rest.
3. The Pakistan Cricket Board (and presumably most of the sub-continent) hate Darrell Hair
The PCB near enough accused Hair of being racist:
“Darrell Hair has trained his guns on the team,” said Shahrayar. “It is a slur on the players and a slur to Pakistan itself. The team has had problems with him before, and have lost confidence in him as an umpire. They are deeply offended by his attitude. Ask the Sri Lankans, ask the Indians about the same man.”
(Cricinfo)
But the PCB won’t get out of this lightly, thanks to Sharyia Khan’s interview, where he insisted that the protest was only designed to last for a few minutes to make a point. The protest lasted over half an hour, during which time, the Umpires and English batsmen took to the field twice, and the Pakistan fielders were urged regularly to take to the field. The attitude of the Pakistan teams in many ways seems quite juvenile “We don’t like Mr. Hair therefore we’re going to throw our toys out of the pram, and refuse to play.” Not very professional in my book.
4. Darrell Hair may yet survive
The ICC had little choice but to stick up for their umpires, despite the absence of any formal proof of the ball tampering allegations and despite the intense media pressure to get some sort of solid information. Although they were on holiday today, so maybe more will break light tomorrow. There’s already history there - Hair is no stranger to controversy having made the headlines several times previously for being a stubborn, insensitive git, and most famously for no-balling Murali in 1995. It seems the matches forfeiture was largely due to Hair’s decision to not return to the field.
5. Old ball-tampering scandals are raised from the dead
The BBC did a top job of bringing scorn and despair on the likelihood that old ball tampering scandals will be brought to life - by bringing a bunch of ball tampering scandals back to life. Good work chaps.
6. And finally, at least irony has not been lost amongst all this
Geoff Boycott on the situation:
The ICC must be blind or stupid not to have realised that there is history between Darrell Hair, the umpire who accused them of changing the nature of the ball, and Pakistan. There were mutterings after the Headingley Test that Pakistan didn’t like Hair’s attitude. Pakistan regard Hair as an officious umpire and they don’t like his style of man-management. It should have been obvious to the ICC that appointing him to this series created a situation like a volcano waiting to erupt
Er, pot? Yeh, hi, it’s the kettle. YOU’RE BLACK.
Brilliant. My thoughts on the whole scandal? Well, I’m the same as everyone else. It’s a terrible way for the series to end, it’s been a total cock-up by pretty much everyone involved (with the exception of the England team, and perhaps the ECB), I believe the Pakistani’s should not have refused to come out after tea, but I understand why they took the action they did, I believe Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove absolutely did the right thing, but if they are unable to pinpoint the time at which the infringement took place, then they’ve committed a very serious error, oh, and Geoff Boycott is an idiot. Great cricketer, but a bit of an idiot. Buckle yourselves in - this one’s not going away for a while.
Tags: ball-tampering, billy-doctrove, controversy, darell-hair, England, inzamam, pakistan, wtfRelated Stories
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