ICC needs a Hair cut

By Trevine Rodrigo in Melbourne, Australia.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) appears to be in crisis and in urgent need of a new broom to make sweeping changes to the unsightly rubbish within its portals of power. It seems that there is an urgent need for sanitising a stench that has been emanating from within, if the game is to be restored to the cleanliness that it was constructed to be following widespread criticism of the badly mishandled investigation into ball tampering and other matters against the Pakistanis.

Inzamam Ul Haq and, Darrel Hair

What has become increasingly clear is that the “lords” of the inner sanctum of world cricket are bereft of the required direction to foster this great game on a level playing field. These observations are rapidly gaining momentum, even here in Australia, after the furore of alleged ball tampering was levelled by controversial umpire Darrel Hair against Pakistan at the recently concluded Test series at Lords in England.

The fact that the ball tampering allegations are now unfounded points an accusing finger back at the ICC’s controlling mechanism which appears to have a bad Malfunction now that Hair was picked to stand at the Champions Trophy tournament in India but was only stood down because of “ security concerns” despite a heavy cloud hanging over his credibility.The charge of bringing the game into disrepute may have never occurred if Hair and Doctrove handled the matter differently. It now makes a grey area of the game greyer because the powers vested in the umpires give them the right to make bad decisions and get away with it giving the victims no recourse.

Inzamam Ul Haq’s suspension for four one day Internationals is a slap in the face of Pakistan who were put through the wringer by the ICC special investigative panel during its disciplinary hearing at Lords in London. After his infamous attempts at undermining the credibility of cricket nations in Asia, Hair must feel like King Kong for the unnecessary esteem bestowed on him by the ICC. He not only got his allegation wrong but threw a spanner in the works of umpiring ethics where the credibility of a nation and a team captain can be crucified at an umpire’s whim and fancy.

Ranjan Madugalle showed the cricket world that he was no one’s puppet with his firm ruling on the matter. But while applauding his final ruling, the outcome may have had more substance if the investigative panel took into consideration the incriminating charge would not have occurred if the allegation of ball tampering had not been unjustly levelled in the first place.

Ranjan Madugalle

It is rumoured that Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, Shaharyar Khan wrote to the ICC insisting that Hair be stood down for the tournament in India but to no avail. It is now clearly evident that Sri Lanka and hosts India strongly support this stance.It is a shame that the game must suffer because of self indulgent individuals such as Hair, whose sole purpose outside umpiring it now seems, was to “milk” the ICC for as much money as he could, damning the earlier perception, (particularly here in Australia,) that he had only the best interest of the game at heart.

The shattering news of Hair’s email to the ICC has challenged every supporter here in Australia and world wide, that threw their weight behind him when he no balled Mutthiah Muralitharan in 1995 for “chucking,” about his credibility, and his audacity to sit in judgement of others. He is now viewed by many as a greedy opportunist not the fair adjudicator many Australians believed him to be. Fast tracking his retirement plans certainly does not smack of an honest motive nor does the publishing of a book after the Murali incident which raked in thousands of dollars.

The ICC are solely responsible for letting the game plummet into a tailspin because the incident in Australia in 1995 and thereafter with Hair’s “mate” Ross Emmerson on Sri Lanka’s next tour, should have rung alarm bells about an urgent change needed to curb umpires from over exercising their powers to the detriment of the game. But they chose to ignore it and unless an urgent redress of the umpiring code is implemented, the game could soon be heading on a disastrous course.

Many observers have begun insinuating that the root cause of the problem may be due to the overbearing influence of Australians and Englishmen at the hierarchical level of administration in the ICC which is subtly reducing countries from the Asian region to second class. A shake up at the top and an even balance of views by all the top Test playing nations may cure the ICC of this malady, knowledgeable experts of the game say.

Spectators don’t pay big bucks to see matches forfeited by over zealous officials. The matter with the Pakistanis could have been handled with maturity and sensible dialogue rather than pompous dictatorship.

The savage backlash by the Asian bloc in particular, over Hair’s allegations, has unleashed an international inferno that has split the cricket following in half.

While ball tampering or cheating of any kind cannot, and should not, be condoned in sport, the issue may have delivered the correct outcome if expert advice was sought to back up any suspicions the umpire may have had.

For as much as Inzamam Ul Haq has an unhealthy and chequered on field reputation, that often precedes him, the ICC’s role of incriminating the Pakistan skipper for bringing the game into disrepute, dismally failed in their duty to recognise that they have overlooked one important factor--- The real perpetrator of creating this charge is Darrel Hair whose convenient action to implement the letter of the law now appears to have been merely self motivated for personal gain.

Maybe justice would have been served if Hair faced those charges instead. We genuinely feel that the ICC must have a Hair Cut