: International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed insisted Pakistan would have no right of veto over the appointment of Darrell Hair after the umpire ruled they had forfeited last week's fourth Test against England here at The Oval.
LONDON: International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed insisted Pakistan would have no right of veto over the appointment of Darrell Hair after the umpire ruled they had forfeited last week's fourth Test against England here at The Oval.
For the first time in the 129-year-history of Test cricket, a team was deemed to have forfeited the match after Pakistan refused to take the field following tea on Sunday's fourth day.
They did so in protest at the earlier decision of Hair and West Indian colleague Billy Doctrove to award five penalty runs to England because of what the umpires said was ball-tampering by Pakistan
It was Hair who signalled the award of five penalty runs and, after previous run-ins with the Australian official, Pakistan made it clear they no longer wanted him involved in their matches.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan insisted his country were not "dictating" to the ICC, telling a London news conference on Monday: "Our case is somewhat different: our case is not that Darrell Hair is a bad umpire, he is not, Darrell Hair is a good umpire.
"Our team has a problem with his attitude on the field, that attitude has upset our team more than once and if the ICC is sensitive to boards it will take due cognisance of what we have said."
But Speed, who'd said he received a letter from Shaharyar, stressed that there would be no change in the appointment procedure of officials. He also backed the stance taken by fellow Australian Hair and Doctrove.
"It is hugely regrettable that the match did not end with a great finish in front of a full house," Speed said in a statement issued from the ICC's Dubai headquarters.
"That is something that would have acted as an appropriate conclusion to a series full of exciting and absorbing cricket (the forfeit gave England the four-match encounter 3-0).
"However, it is not the role of the ICC to overturn the decisions of on-field umpires, the people who are enshrined in the Laws of Cricket as the sole judges of fair and unfair play, the ultimate arbiters of the game.”
"In this instance the decision made by Billy Doctrove and Darrell Hair to award the match to England was the correct one under the Laws. Subsequent to the end of the Test we have received a
letter from the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board expressing his concerns about the appointment of Darrell Hair to matches involving Pakistan.”
"The PCB has expressed those concerns verbally in the past but this is the first time they have put them in writing, even though they have previously been invited to do so.”
"However, it remains the role of the ICC and not our members to appoint umpires to Tests and one-day internationals.”
"The choices are made by the ICC's chief executive together with the chairman of the cricket committee, Sunil Gavaskar following recommendations from the ICC's cricket department.”
"The appointments are made without fear or favour and are based on the performances of the umpires in international matches."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}