Spot-fixers — Amir, Salman and Asif
Remarkably, if umpires from Pakistan are found wanting they are swiftly dubbed as cheats by visiting teams, more so by England. But what transpired in the 1987-88 series in Pakistan was a ramification of the tour a few months ago. There are many of us who have not forgotten how England missed a great chance to level the series when their battle-hardened skipper Mike Gatting and colourful Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana got embroiled in an ugly finger-pointing confrontation during the second Test at Faisalabad as they hurled obscenities at each other.
Shakoor accused Gatting of cheating by adjusting the field after informing the non-striking batsman, Salim Malik, just as spinner Eddie Hemmings was about to bowl. As Hemmings began his run-up, Gatting motioned to David Capel he had come far enough from deep. Technically, the move was legal as Gatting had told the batsman and his gesture was not moving a man and, as he was out of the striker’s vision, was not going to distract him.
But Shakoor, stationed at square leg, was unhappy and yelled out: “Stop, stop” as Hemmings delivered the ball. His colleague Khizer Hayat had the quick sense to call it a dead ball. A bemused Gatting inquired what happened and was told by the outspoken Shakoor he had cheated by waving his hand!
What followed was inevitable as the standoff between the England captain and the umpire led to the third day being completely lost. It took a hand-written apology from Gatting on the fourth morning which finally saw peace between the aggrieved parties.
England were already furious at the substandard umpiring of Shakeel Khan — an official who repeatedly indulged in obediently carrying out Javed Miandad’s instructions whenever Miandad led Pakistan in home Tests — during the first Test at Lahore where they lost.
Despite losing the series 1-0, their generous cricket board rewarded each member of the touring party a cool £1,000 for the troubles they faced on the trip to Pakistan!
By the time Pakistan went to England in 2006, the concept of neutral umpires had already become a permanent fixture in every Test match. The old tricks of accusing home-based umpires for being biased to their country of birth were long out of fashion.
Therefore, it came as a huge surprise when Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side was accused of tampering with the ball during the final Test at The Oval by hardnosed Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who was partnered by Billy Doctrove of the West Indies.
By a coincidence, it was a Sunday when Pakistan opted to scupper a golden chance of salvaging pride with a consolation victory when they chose to forfeit the match rather than take the field after tea on the fourth afternoon. England were still a long way from saving the match with four second-innings wickets down. Instead they were declared victorious of the series 3-0 with one game drawn and Inzamam being slapped with an ICC ban for bringing the sport into disrepute.
Whatever is in store for Misbah-ul-Haq and his team in the upcoming series with Pakistan aiming to end a 20-year itch to beat England in a series in England for the first time since 1996, the respected captain has urged his charges to think positively and forget what happened in the past while keeping themselves focused on the arduous task ahead.
“It indeed is a tough series, but the easy way to deal with this tour is to just focus on your game,” Misbah said before the team left for England. “We don’t have to look around and there is no need to peep into the past, otherwise you will never move ahead. Just believe in your training, your practice and enjoy your cricket. This is the only way to keep away from controversies.”
Wise words from a wise man, indeed.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 26th, 2016