Cricket plunged into chaos
Who is to blame for Sundays disastrous occurrences that has left World Cricket blushing - Pakistan, the Umpire Darrell Hair or the ICC?
© James Endersby
Aug 21, 2006
The game of cricket was made to look incredibly foolish on Sunday. Pakistani ball tampering, player protests, forfeits...Can the sport recover from this embarrassment?
It was the fourth day of the final five day test match between England and the visiting Pakistani's. Although England had already sealed the series after winning two of the past three tests, the fourth test at the famous Oval cricket ground in London was certainly poised for a fantastic finish. Pakistan had bowled the English out cheaply for 173 in the first innings and then amassed a colossal 504 runs in reply. The match was well set just before tea on the fourth day with England only 33 runs behind and on 298 for 4 wickets.
And then the madness began, launching a series of events that threatens to plunge the cricketing world into a state of anarchy.
Australian umpire Darrell Hair accused the Pakistani's of tampering with the ball (cheating), a very serious allegation and an accusation that struck a nerve with the Pakistani team. Hair immediately awarded England 5 penalty runs. Although television pictures showed the ball had been scuffed, there had been no evidence of any of the Pakistanis altering its state and after tea; the entire Pakistan team remained behind closed doors by way of protest.
After the umpires took the field for a second time, and with no sign of any of the Pakistani's, the umpires declared, according to the rules of the game, that they had forfeited the match, awarded the victory to England and promptly left the field
The scenes that unfolded were then somewhat comical and completely unprofessional. The International Cricket Council (ICC) are the governing body of the game of cricket, yet their failure to communicate effectively, left 23 000 paying fans and millions of people tuning in around the world on TV and radio, completely in the dark as to what was going on.
After a while, there were thumbs up from the Pakistani board members and it looked as though an agreement had been reached and play was going to resume once more. The Pakistani's then emerged from the change room and walked down to the field, yet the umpires were no where to be seen. Those watching on in amazement from the stands and at home had no clue as to what was going on; "where were the umpires?"
Ten minutes later, with no announcements, no umpires and no clue, the poor Pakistani's once again left the field and headed back to the sanity of their changing rooms.
The final conclusion to this debacle is that the ICC stuck by their umpires and backed the decision to award England the Test, after Pakistan effectively forfeited the match. To be fair, that is in accordance with the rules. The problem I'm afraid lies with the fact that there has still been no official evidence brought forward that justifies the ball tampering accusation made by Darrell Hair.
The good news is that the exciting one-day series between the two teams will still go ahead as planned. This however does not detract from the fact that the ICC needs to do some serious re-thinking. With the South Africans pulling out of the Tri-Series tournament in Sri-Lanka and now this madness at the Oval - the next few weeks will definitely be a crucial phase in the history of the sport.
Join the discussion below: Do you think Pakistan were in the right? What should be done to smooth things over? Can the sport recover?
The copyright of the article
Cricket plunged into chaos in
Rugby & Cricket is owned by
James Endersby. Permission to republish
Cricket plunged into chaos must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Aug 21, 2006 5:42 AM
Anthony J Greig
:
Daryll Hair needs a good combing from the ICC for another farsical call! In the fair dinkum department, he did get the line on the line as far as condition of the ball goes, but it's just not cricket...
First the pakistanis strike, then the Umpires strike back, while the cricket loving public are left to tamper with their own balls for 2 hours.
Not good for the game, not good for the ICC, and certainly not good for DH. We want to watch the game, not the umpire!
Aug 21, 2006 5:44 AM
Charles Mackay
:
Well, firstly can i say - great column and great to have Rugby and Cricket on Suite101 - finally!!
I agree, the fact that needs to be cleared is, "did the Paki's cheat?" From the evidence....well...there is none. No video footage at all and with all the cameras these days, it's hard to miss anything. So did darrell Hair see anything? and how can he prove it?
I'm afraid, as in a dodgy LBW decision, or a dodgy caught behind, the umpires decision is final. So even if we see that yes, the LBW decision was a load of rubbish and the batsman never even came close to snicking the ball....if the umpire says so, then the batsman is out - case closed.
So If Hair says the pakistani's tampered with the ball....then maintaining a level of consistency here...then the Paki's tampered with the ball!
It still leaves a rather nasty smell in the air. The ICC were made to look foolish yeterday, they should have communicated with all the parties concerned!!
Would be interested to hear from other readers - join my discussion...
Aug 21, 2006 5:49 AM
Nicholasdougherty
:
we all know Darrel Hair is a grumpy git- the way he treated muri a few years back comes to mind--- the greatest spin bowler to grace the planet- i will have you know, and don't you forget it!! and he was had up for throwing- remember with Ranatuga refused to bring the team on the field after Darrel no-balled muri..
in the current case- we must remember that pakistan returned to the field after the initial protest- as if to say- "okay- we've had our sulk- lets get on with it." which was quite big of them- but Darrel couldn't swallow his pride, and thus didn't come out.
anychance you can link some 12th man to this site?
Aug 21, 2006 5:51 AM
James Endersby
:
Now THAT is a very interesting angle indeed! I have to say that I agree with you, from a purely black and white stance. But are Umpires bigger than the game? Looking forward to hearing Hairs statement.
Aug 21, 2006 6:02 AM
Anthony J Greig
:
I think from this point onwards, no post from those in the know should be accepted on the site without at least 1 12th man reference - James Endersby, try and slip some into your articles!
Who knew the cannuks were into their cricket...This site is gonna be HUUUUUGE! Sensational stuff.
Aug 21, 2006 6:09 AM
James Endersby
:
Darrell Hair sees himself as a hard liner and one who has been given the task of being a "protector" of the game. An honerable duty - but yes - perhaps he needs to exercise a bit more sensitivity?
Aug 21, 2006 6:11 AM
Anthony J Greig
:
CanadianKiwi,
There is a faint smell in the air, and it's a combination of BS and bombay mix!
It's a good shout, and i believe that if a decision is made, then yes, the umpire should be supported to the hilt. It's up to him to call for any support he needs in making his decision, e.g. 3rd umpire, tv replays, snickometer, crackcam, but if a decision is made fair dos. We need to maintain the integrity of umpires, but at the same time making a decision and then not returning to the field either smacks of chaos or cowardise.
I think the ICC may have had more of a hand in this that we are aware of. There must be an enquirey or at least an explanation following this. Calls on the pitch: fine. Strikes during the game: embarrassing.
Aug 21, 2006 7:23 AM
Ryan Laubscher
:
I don't like looking at Darrell Hair. Let's hope we don't have to any more.
Aug 23, 2006 1:42 AM
Anthony J Greig
:
I dislike the way he always dresses to the left...
Aug 23, 2006 5:02 AM
James Endersby
:
But no side has the rite to say who will and who will not umpire their matches!! Wether it's umpire Hugh Jaars, Mike Hunt or darell hair, the ICC stipulates who umpires what team, not the individual teams!
