The Oval hearing scheduled for September 27 and 28

The hearing over the alleged ball tampering incident that led to the forfeiture of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan Test at The Oval will take place on September 27 and 28. Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, announced this in Mumbai on Thursday at a function to launch the Champions Trophy.

Speed, who had earlier addressed a similar function in New Delhi, said that Ranjan Madugalle would be able to chair the hearing at the end of the month. He also clarified that it was not entirely accurate to say that Pakistan would be cleared of charges of tampering simply because there was no evidence on videotape. "If video evidence was the only criteria, taking the analogy of crime, we would not be able to prove a lot of murders and half the jails would be empty," said Speed. "I cannot say much, except that there are other forms of evidence, and all will unfold at the hearing."

When pressed to explain what he meant by other forms of evidence, Speed said, "There is the ball, [the accounts of] other people who were present, and there's the umpires' version, which is the most important." This means that the testimony of Darrell Hair, the man in the centre of all the controversy, and Billy Doctrove, his colleague, could prove crucial should there be no evidence on tape. Mike Procter, the match referee, will also be a key player in the proceedings.

"The whole issue has gotten out of hand a bit," Speed added. "It should have been dealt with then and there by the match referee."

The pre-launch function for the Champions Trophy, due to be played in India next month, was held at the Cricket Club of India and was attended by several functionaries of the Board of Control for Cricket in India including Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, and Ratnakar Shetty, an executive secretary of the board. Milind Rege and Suru Nayak, former Mumbai cricketers, were also present.