You're Kidding, Right?

According to this article on Cricinfo, the infamous Mr Darryl Hair "expects to fulfil" an appointment to officiate in the Champions Trophy in India. The piece also quotes an unnamed source as saying that Hair is “still regarded as one of our best umpires” and “It’s a safe bet that he’ll be there”.

This leads me to three conclusions:

1. The hearing to determine the fate of Inzimam ul Haq is a façade as his fate has already been decided. The ICC has no plans to punish/make an example of Hair for his ill-judged and histrionic actions at The Oval test mach, thereby, laying all blame for the debacle at Inzi’s feet.
2. By not condemning/sanctioning Hair the ICC is advocating his actions and implying that umpires have their full support irrespective of how inane or fallacious their future actions may be.
3. The ICC is a feeble and incompetent organisation, inept at enforcing its own laws in order to effectively uphold the spirit of the game.

Someone please help me think of a single self-respecting organisation that would retain an employee after he/she held it to ransom over an event that was borne out of the employee’s foolishness. But then again, the subject in question is the admirable International Cricket Council and one would struggle to find gentlemen of the ilk that manage this praiseworthy entity.

Read our earlier posts on this controversy here, here and here.

Tags: The Match Referee

• cricket
• ChampionsTrophy
• scandal
• umpires
• india
• ICC