IND: Aussie Umpire Hair Accused Of 'Racial Bias' (28 Jun 1996)

28 June 1996

Aussie umpire Hair accused of `racial bias`

NEW DELHI, Thursday - India`s cricket chief on Thursday accused Australian umpire Darrell Hair of incompetence and ``racial bias`` and slammed his status as an international umpire as ``a disgrace``.

Hair, who caused an uproar last year by branding Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan a ``chucker``, upset India by turning down several appeals during the first two tests against England this month.

``Quite frankly, Hair is an incompetent umpire whose continuation on the international panel is a disgrace,`` Indian cricket board President Inderjit Singh Bindra told the Telegraph newspaper.

``He must be taken off. Besides the incompetence bit, Hair`s umpiring against Sri Lanka and our team actually smacks of racial bias,`` the newspaper quoted Bindra as saying.

Bindra, who watched the drawn test at Lord`s this week, told the paper he would move to make the International Cricket Council (ICC) remove Hair from the world panel.

``We are going to pursue this with the ICC,`` Bindra said.

ICC rules prevent teams from commenting on umpires, but there is no restriction on administrators. Bindra`s outburst reflects the growing anger among the Indian touring party at Hair`s action.

India were distraught when Hair turned down an appeal for a catch against England`s Nasser Hussain early in his match-winning innings of 128 in the first test at Edgbaston. Television replays appeared to support the Indians.

As India pressed for victory at Lord`s test, Hair twice rejected appeals against England`s saviour Jack Russell, one for leg before and the other for a catch close to the wicket.

In December, Hair no-balled Muralitharan seven times for throwing during a test in Melbourne between Sri Lanka and Australia, causing a major row between the two nations. A scientific study later showed Muralitharan`s action was legal.

Each of the nine test-playing nations nominates two officials to the 18-man international panel of umpires. Hair and Steve Randall are Australia`s representatives.

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