Bob
Woolmer (Pakistan coach):
"I think there was a genuine feeling that, by inference,
we had been cheating. I personally asked every member of the
team, under oath basically, whether they had at any time scratched
the ball during the innings and to a man they said 'No'. I
looked at the ball and came to my own conclusions. I didn't
see any undue tampering with the ball - and in 38 years (of
involvement in cricket) I have seen tampering with the balls.
It (the ball) had been hit into the stands on numerous occasions
by Kevin Pietersen. Having asked my team I can concur with
them there was probably just damage from concrete and whatever.
It was a very black day for cricket. I would like to say that
I and the team are very sorry to the British public we are
not playing today (Monday)."
Pakistan's
decision to protest against allegedly having tampered with
the ball resulted in The Oval Test being awarded to England
by forefiet. Darrell Hair was at the core of the issue with
his antics. Renowned cricketers, journalists and commentators
voiced their opinions on the issue. Here's a look at a few
of them:
Nasser
Hussain (former England batsman & Sky Sports commentator):
"Did Darrell Hair actually see a member of the Pakistan
team tampering with a cricket ball? Has he got proof? If he
hasn't then he has made a massive error.
If I had been accused of cheating in this way then, as long
as I was sure of our innocence, I would have done exactly
the same thing as Pakistan. I wouldn't have come out after
tea either. To Pakistan, if they had continued playing, they
would have been admitting their guilt."
Geoffery
Boycott (former England opener & cricket critique):
"The ICC must be blind or stupid not to have realised
that there is history between Darrell Hair, the umpire who
accused them of changing the nature of the ball, and Pakistan.
It should have been obvious to the ICC that appointing him
to this series created a situation like a volcano to erupt."
Wasim
Akram (former Pakistan all-rounder):
"He (Darrell Hair) has a poor track record against
the Asians and is known for creating unnecessary controversies.
The ICC are not going to take any action against the umpires
no matter what they do on the ground."
Ian
Botham (former England all-rounder & Sky Sports commentator):
"They (ICC) are the mandarins who fiddled while the
game slid towards anarchy at The Oval. The ICC are the alleged
governing body who left 23,000 paying spectators and millions
of people tuning into TV and radio coverage completely in
the dark. They (ground administration) needed to make a statement
specifying exactly why the ball was changed, what they had
seen, who was involved and how often. Otherwise the whole
Pakistan team stands accused of cheating."
Mike
Selvey (Cricket Correspondent, The Guardian):
"That an international match of such profile can be
terminated simply because two officials have had their integrity
questioned is a disgrace to the game. If Hair and Doctrove
feel a slight, then that can be no more than that felt by
the Pakistan team, who have spent years living down the accusations
of ball-tampering that were thrown at them in the early part
of the last decade. But the game is more important than the
feelings of the officials."
Derek
Pringle (former New Zealand bowler writes for Daily Telegraph):
"Hair's feelings, and he will maintain he has played
it by the book, should not really be part of the equation.
ICC have five officials present at every test and match referee
Mike Procter should simply have replaced him and Doctrove,
if he was in sympathy with his colleague. Hair could and should
have played it differently. Unless he saw a player deliberately
altering the condition of the ball, it is difficult to claim
tampering by condition alone."
Arjuna
Ranatunga (former Sri Lankan captain):
"Can anyone explain to me why Asian teams suffer when
Darrell Hair is the umpire? The man has concluded that someone
is a cheat without providing proper evidence. Inzy is one
of the nicest guys I have come across. If I had been the captain,
I would have had no hesitation in walking off. I think former
captains like Imran Khan of Pakistan and Sunil Gavaskar of
India would have done the same thing because Hair has something
against the Asians."
Simon
Barnes (writes in The Times):
"Sky (Sports), not short of cameras or curiosity,
was unable to find any footage of a guilty player doing some
sneaky thing to the ball. All we have then is Hair's judgement:
Hair's punishment: Hair's abdication: Hair's creation of one
of the great periodic scandals in cricket history. All I can
say is that he'd be bloody well better be bloody well sure
that he was bloody well right."
John
Ethridge (writes in The Sun):
"An 18-stone Aussie called Darrell Hair trampled his
feet all over the name of cricket with an astonishing display
of pig-headedness. Hair was the central figure in a day of
bewildering controversy, anger, stubbornness and ultimately
disgrace."
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