Umpires must not be allowed to play God - Boycott

Geoffrey Boycott has lambasted Darrell Hair for attempting to "play God" in his handling of the forfeited fourth Test between England and Pakistan. Boycott, now a respected media commentator, also took a swipe at Hair over his failure to show any contrition after the ICC overruled his decision to call Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for ball tampering.

Inzamam was cleared of the charges on Thursday after a disciplinary hearing at which Boycott, along with television analyst Simon Hughes, was asked to examine the ball Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove had deemed to have been interfered with. Both experts testified that the condition of the ball was as consistent with normal wear and tear as deliberate scuffing.

The umpires' decision to impose a five-run penalty prompted the Pakistanis to refuse to play, a protest which caused them to forfeit the match.

Hughes said on Friday that he believed Hair had been "guessing" as to the condition of the ball, but Boycott went much further in his column in the Daily Telegraph. "Hair is the first man to apply the five-run penalty for ball-tampering and he got it wrong," Boycott wrote. "He is also the first man to call a Test match forfeited, and I believe he got that wrong too.

"Another change I expect to see is that the umpires will not be able to award the match to one team without involving the match referee," he added. "At The Oval, the whole thing was done and dusted in 11 minutes. I'm sorry, but it's too big a deal for that. We don't want umpires to be allowed to play God like this ever again."