Darrell Hair on panel to guide Australian umpires

Darrell Hair has been included in Cricket Australia's four-member Umpire High Performance Panel, which will help guide and develop umpires in the country. Hair returned to top-level international umpiring during the England-New Zealand Test series last month after an absence of nearly two years following his ruling that Pakistan tampered the ball during the controversial Oval Test in 2006.

The other members of the panel are Ric Evans, who stood in international matches between 1988 and 1994, Bob Stratford, who is also one of the five regional umpires' performance managers, and David Levens, a former Australian Football League umpires coach. The panel will help in the selection and appointment of umpires besides assessing their performance and helping in their professional development.

"CA is committed to ensuring the highest standard of umpiring for CA's competitions and to enhance and support the development of Australian umpires for international cricket," Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said. "This new panel has a broad range of skills in elite officiating as well as umpire education and management, and will add an important new dimension to CA's development of umpires."

The panel will start its work at the Emerging Players Tournament starting in Queensland on July 14.