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SYDNEY - Darrell Hair is likely to continue to be a lightning rod for controversy after cricket's ruling body today reinstated the Australian test umpire as one of the game's elite officials.
NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers' Association executive officer Peter Hughes says it will be a massive test of strength for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to see how they handle Hair's future appointments with Pakistan giving every indication they will try to block the Australian officiating in their matches.
"It will be interesting to see what the next chapter will be, whether a particular country wishes to not have him umpire them," Hughes said today.
"That seems to be the trend these days.
"Countries can go around saying which umpires they want. It will be interesting to see how strong the ICC will be if that situation happens again.
"If India can say they are not happy with an umpire's performance, therefore we are not going to have him in the next game, that brings the total game into reproach.
"If the news coming out of Pakistan is true that they still will not have Darrell appointed to their games, it's going to be interesting for the new ICC chief executive (South African Imtiaz Patel) to overcome that."
Hair, who was barred from standing in top-level cricket matches following a controversial abandoned test between England and Pakistan, was today reinstated as one of the game's elite officials.
Hair has not taken charge of a test or a major international one-day match since he and his West Indian colleague Billy Doctrove penalised Pakistan five runs for alleged ball-tampering during the fourth and final test against England at The Oval in August 2006.
The decision infuriated the Pakistanis and their captain Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to play on, resulting in the match being abandoned after tea on the fourth day with England awarded the first victory by forfeit in the history of the game.
Hair, who has since been restricted to one-day internationals involving minor nations, was cleared to return to umpiring tests and one-day internationals between the leading cricket nations at a meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai.
Inzamam told Reuters today: "The Pakistan Cricket Board needs to learn a lesson from the Indian board.
"See how they backed their players in Australia recently on contentious issues. Our board should never have backed down on this (Hair) issue."
The decision marks the latest twist in what has been one of the most controversial and divisive sagas in the history of cricket.
Hair's return to the fold follows a six-month rehabilitation program which he agreed to undertake last October, when he dropped a race discrimination claim against the ICC on the seventh day of a ten-day hearing at a London employment tribunal.
Hair is living in Sydney and has been studying a course at University of NSW, Hughes said.
"He was in Malaysia for the under-19s world championships as an umpires' mentor. He has done everything they (ICC) asked of him," Hughes said.
"They really had nowhere to go (but to reappoint Hair)."
Hair had claimed he was a victim of racial discrimination because, while he has not been allowed to officiate in tests since the forfeit test, his colleague Doctrove, a black Dominican, had been able to continue his top-level career.
Since dropping his discrimination claim, Hair has acknowledged that he could have handled the decision to penalise Pakistan better, although he insisted that he had made the right call.
Hair has also said he will be prepared to umpire in Pakistan if called upon to do so.
- AAP
