Hair consulted cricket officials before seeking payout: report by AFP

---

Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq, DB Hair
Event:	Pakistan in British Isles 2006

---

DateLine: 28th August 2006

 

Australian umpire Darrell Hair says he conferred with some of cricket's most powerful officials before asking for a 500,000 US dollar payout to walk away from Test cricket, reports said Sunday.

 

The International Cricket Council Friday revealed that Hair had offered his resignation in return for the payment, one which the ICC deemed as "entirely inappropriate".

 

Hair, who later rescinded his offer, was one of two umpires officiating in the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval last weekend who awarded the home side five penalty runs because they believed the tourists had illegally tampered with the ball.

 

Pakistan were incensed by the decision and refused to return to the pitch after the tea interval. The match was eventually forfeited and England took the series 3-0.

 

Hair said he only arrived at what is regarded as his career-ending decision after speaking to some of the game's leading administrators, whom he did not identify.

 

"It wasn't a spur of the moment thing," Hair told Sydney's Sunday Telegraph from England.

 

"I had dialogue with them. That was understood. I didn't do it off the cuff. (Umpires' boss) Doug Cowie even said in his email reply to my offer that the proposal had merit."

 

Asked whether he would ever umpire again, Hair said: "Let's address one thing at a time."

 

The Sunday Telegraph said it appeared that Hair spoke to ICC officials about terminating his contract with 18 months to spare but they were staggered by his request for such huge compensation.

 

Later Sunday, the ICC issued a statement reconfirming that Hair did discuss his future with Cowie, before sending an email to the official on Tuesday August 22.

 

An ICC spokesman confirmed: "There were many informal discussions between Mr Hair and Mr Cowie between the end of the Oval Test and Mr Hair's first email on Tuesday, including a discussion on the potential impact on Mr Hair's umpiring career.

 

"Mr Cowie's role was to support and counsel Mr Hair, as his manager, at a difficult time and it is our understanding that at no stage during their conversations was there any discussion of a pay-off, nor secrecy, nor deadlines, nor misleading the public regarding reasons for retirement - all of which were subsequently laid out in Mr Hair's email."

 

The ICC say that no other ICC staff member discussed any of these issues with Hair.

 

The spokesperson added: "We have no desire to be in conflict with Mr Hair. He is one of the world's best umpires and we have no doubt that he was under a great deal of stress when he sent the emails that he later revoked.

 

"There remain two simple cricket matters arising from the Oval Test to be resolved and we look forward to the effective resolution of these matters and the resumption of on-field action."

 

The latest revelations in the Hair controversy have upset the cricket world, particularly in Pakistan where former captain Javed Miandad said the developments had strengthened Pakistan's case regarding allegations of ball-tampering that the umpire made last week against captain Inzaman-ul-Haq.

 

"The truth must come out," Miandad told AFP Saturday. "Both the ICC and Hair have set a bad precedent for cricket."

 

The ICC should not have made public Hair's letter containing the offer, Miandad said, adding that by doing so the cricket governing body had shown itself to be weak and incapable of resolving the crisis itself.

 

Inzamam was due to face a disciplinary hearing in London on Friday but it was postponed because of the unavailability due to personal reasons of ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle to hear the case.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)