BCCSL protests to ICC over Hair's remarks (14 November 1998)

14 November 1998

BCCSL protests to ICC over Hair's remarks

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka has protested to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the remarks made by Australian umpire Darrel Hair on ace spinner Muthiah Muralitharan.

The BCCSL's protest was faxed to ICC chief executive David Richards yesterday.

"We are deeply disturbed by the remarks made by Darrel Hair on Muthiah Muralitharan. As far as we are concerned the matter over Muralitharan's bowling is resolved," said BCCSL president Thilanga Sumathipala.

"By making such statements Hair has violated the ICC Code of Conduct, which prevents an official or player from making any comments," said Sumathipala.

"We are making a protest to the ICC to take stock of the situation and penalise the umpire under clause 8," he said.

The BCCSL president said that he had also got in touch with his counterpart in Australia, Dennis Rogers, the Australian Cricket Board chairman who told him: "We expected the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to react".

Sumathipala said that Hair was not a neutral umpire and that he was biased when he did not no-ball two other Sri Lankan bowlers Kumara Dharmasena and Ruwan Kalpage whom he (Hair) thought had suspect actions, because he feared a backlash when Australia played their World Cup match in Colombo in 1995.

An AFP report from Sydney on Thursday quoted Hair of threatening to call Muralitharan for throwing, if the bowler had not sorted out his action when he tours Australia with the Sri Lanka team in January for the World Series Cup. The quotes came off Hair's autobiography which is to be released next week.

Hair called Muralitharan for throwing seven times in a three-over spell in the Second Test against Australia at Melbourne on Boxing Day 1995. However, the BCCSL supported their star bowler with scientific and medical evidence that Muralitharan was born with a permanently bent arm which cannot straighten, which the ICC's technical committee accepted. The bowler has not been called since, and has played in virtually every cricketing country except Australia.

In August this year, Muralitharan spearheaded Sri Lanka to a ten-wicket victory over England at the Oval, bowling over a 100 overs in front of England umpire David Shepherd, who found nothing wrong with his bowling action. Shepherd is currently ranked number one in the ICC's panel of umpires.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)