Hair in the balance (29 November 1998)

29 November 1998

Hair in the balance

Rick Eyre in CricInfo365

The Australian Cricket Board are expecting word from the ICC on Monday as to whether they are to take action against Test umpire Darrell Hair.

The Board of Control of Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) lodged a complaint with the ICC two weeks ago after media reports of Hair's new autobiography "Decision Maker: An Umpire's Story". Hair's book discusses incidents during Sri Lanka's 1995-96 tour of Australia, including his no-balling of Mutiah Muralitharan for throwing, the reporting of two other Sri Lankan bowlers, and other confrontations with Sri Lankan officials.

Talking on ABC radio on Saturday, ACB chief executive Mal Speed said that the board had been in contact with the ICC during the week requesting that it indicates one way or the other whether any action was going to be taken. The BCCSL requested that Hair be charged with a breach of ICC Code of Conduct No.8, which relates to the issuing of detrimental public announcements or media comment in certain situations.

Speed said that if the ICC decides to take no action, then the ACB will deal with the matter through their own processes. A meeting of the ACB board of directors on November 19 heard a report from Speed about the contents of Hair's book. Speed said on radio yesterday that the ACB considers that it cannot take any action until the ICC decides what they will do, as the BCCSL's complaint was made to the ICC and not to them.

The ACB will be making its umpiring appointments next month for January's Carlton & United One-Day Series between Australia, England and Sri Lanka. The BCCSL are understood to have requested that Hair not stand in the series. Two Australian umpires stand in each match in the series, the ACB being responsible for their appointment. None of the participating teams are permitted to dispute the selection of umpires.

Speed said that the ACB was waiting on the ICC to reach a decision before acting so that there were not two investigations taking place.

He described Hair during the radio interview as a very good umpire, saying that he umpired "brilliantly" during the First Test last week. He went on to describe the timing of the publication of Hair's book as "unfortunate".

Source :: CricInfo365