Cricket: ICC chief wants Hair to carry on as umpire

The cricket umpire at the centre of the test match cheating row was given an unexpected vote of confidence yesterday, less than 24 hours after it was revealed that he had sought a £265,000 ($785,000) payoff.

Darrell Hair, heavily criticised after it was made public on Saturday that he had emailed the International Cricket Council requesting the payoff to retire from the sport, appears to have saved his £60,000-a-year job.

The remarkable turn of events represents yet another twist in the drama played out over the past week.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said yesterday that he would like Hair to continue umpiring top-class matches.

"I hope we can find a way that Darrell Hair can continue to umpire," said Speed. "He is among the two, three or four top umpires in the world. We've just got to allow some time to pass."

It was the same Speed who made public Hair's request for the £265,000 golden handshake to quietly disappear from the sport. This followed Hair's role in the alleged ball-tampering by the Pakistan team in its final test match with England at the Oval.

The vote of confidence came as the former Australia captain Ian Chappell became the latest prominent cricket figure to claim that it was now impossible for Hair, a fellow Australian, to umpire another test match.

"His position was going to be difficult because they were obviously talking about the cost of security for Darrell Hair, which was probably going to make it very difficult for him to umpire on the subcontinent," said Chappell. "That would have made his position difficult. Now it's untenable."

The row erupted last Sunday when the highly experienced Hair, 53, ruled that a subsequent protest over his decision to penalise the Pakistan team meant they had forfeited the match, the first team to do so in the 129-year history of international cricket.

With the forthcoming series of one-day matches between the countries left in serious doubt, and the Pakistan captain, Inzamam ul-Haq, facing an ICC hearing over both cheating and bringing the game into disrepute, the controversy reached new heights with the publication of Hair's emails to the ICC.

Then Hair, who lives in Lincolnshire with his British wife, confused matters even further by issuing a statement of his own. In it, he claimed that his initial email was "composed at a very difficult time".

He said he wanted to continue umpiring.

The Pakistan team have now travelled to Bristol to prepare for their Twenty20 match against England.

Pakistan will then play five one-day internationals against England.

- INDEPENDENT