Cricket: Reid comes out in support of umpire Hair

Former international cricket match referee John Reid has strongly supported besieged Australian umpire Darrell Hair and says Pakistan was regularly suspected of ball tampering.

However, Reid, now president of New Zealand Cricket, is also disappointed with Hair's request of a retirement payout of US$500,000 ($796,178) when charges were still pending against Pakistan.

Speaking to the Australian newspaper from New Zealand as a former match referee, not an official of NZ Cricket, Reid said he often had concerns about the state of the ball in matches involving Pakistan.

A former New Zealand captain and one of his country's finest players, Reid was an International Cricket Council match referee from 1993 to 2002.

During the 1999 World Cup, Reid warned Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar for ball tampering and a year later he fined and suspended fellow paceman Waqar Younis for the same offence.

"You would have seen that on TV, with him picking away at the body of the ball," Reid said of Waqar.

"That's how they do it these days.

"I fined him the maximum amount I could at the time and took him out for one game, and was called racist and biased.

"It's obvious he was in the wrong but the umpire or referee gets the blame."

Asked about Pakistan bowlers more generally, Reid replied: "There were concerns on quite a number of occasions."

One of those was a test against Australia in Lahore during 1994. While Reid could not remember specific details, former umpire Cyril Mitchley of South Africa said he and Reid had regular discussions about the state of the ball.

"We talked about it in the umpires' rooms and John told me, 'keep an eye on them, Cyril'," Mitchley said from South Africa yesterday.

He said the Pakistanis had taken the unusual decision to use an English Reader brand of ball instead of the more widely used Australian Kookaburra ball.

"It really got scuffed up quickly," Mitchley said. "We didn't change the ball but we looked at it continuously. It looked like a piece of frayed rope in the end."

Mitchley believes ball tampering is a curse that will continue to blight the game.

"I can assure you this won't be the last time you hear about ball tampering," he said. "It's been part and parcel of the game forever. In the old days they used to pick the seam. We'll never get rid of it."

Reid said former Pakistan captain Imran Khan had been one of the architects of ball tampering.

"He wrote a book about it. Have a look at the book. There was a chapter in there saying how to do it. It's a joke, I'm afraid," Reid said.

He said Hair and his fellow umpire Billy Doctrove would not have laid a charge of ball tampering without good reason.

"Everyone is saying there is no video evidence on this," Reid said. "You don't need video evidence. You've got the ball. That's all the evidence you need.

"They would have had the ball at the meeting (when the charges were laid). They wouldn't do that unless the ball showed a lot of evidence of ball tampering."

Reid said he had great respect for Hair as an umpire but was disappointed with his request of a retirement payout of US$500,000 ($796,178) when charges were still pending against Pakistan.

"I'm all for Darrell Hair, I think he's done a good job, but he's taken one step too far. You don't write letters about US$500,000.

"It's going to be very difficult for Darrell Hair from now on, I would imagine."

- NZPA WGT pm ks