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| August 27, 2006 | Sunday | Sha'aban 2, 1427 |
Team urged to put saga behind
KARACHI, Aug 26: Pakistan's players have been told to forget the ball-tampering row with umpire Darrell Hair and look to winning the Twenty20 International and one-day series against England, team manager Zaheer Abbas said on Saturday.
“They have been advised that the PCB and ICC will sort out the ball-tampering row and to just concentrate on doing well in the one-day series,” Zaheer said from London.
“Let me make it clear the Pakistan team had decided early Friday morning they would play the series much before the ICC made its announcement about Hair,” Zaheer said.
Pakistan forfeited the Test on Sunday following their refusal to play after tea on day four in protest after Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove penalised them five runs for alleged ball-tampering.
A new twist was added to the controversy after ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said on Friday that Hair had asked for $500,000 to quit.
The revelation came after Hair came under heavy criticism for his role in the forfeited Test and Zaheer had no doubt it had helped the Pakistanis.
“What can I say but if you go through the correspondence between Hair and the ICC and then his retraction it shows his confused state of mind. I have no doubt we will benefit from these developments,” Zaheer added.
But a serving Pakistan international umpire who declined to be named backed Hair's reputation as a top umpire.
He said that Hair was a top umpire who knew all the laws and was feared by the players for his no-nonsense approach.
“I don't think he is biased in enforcing the laws,” he said. I don't know why he did it.”—Reuters
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