Hair loss a blow for umpiring

Malcolm Conn, writing in the Weekend Australian, laments the loss of Darrell Hair from top-level umpiring.

Pilloried for upholding the laws of the game, Hair is the leading example of the worldwide failure of cricket officials to support umpires and helps to explain why it is the least developed aspect of the game.

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One of cricket's many great ironies is that India, one of Hair's most vocal opponents, which complains more about umpires than other country, is the only major Test nation not to be represented on the ICC's elite 12-man umpiring panel.

The seven other countries have at least one umpire on the panel, with Australia four and the West Indies and Pakistan two, yet again raising the question of where and how is the Board of Control for Cricket in India spending its vast wealth?