The
ball-tampering saga that has rocked the cricketing world recently
took another twist on Friday. The ICC Chief Executive Malcolm
Speed, in London with his lawyers, disclosed to the media
that Darrell Hair, the chief conspirator in this controversy,
has demanded US$ 500,000 to step down from umpiring duties.
Malcolm Speed reached London in order to resolve the dispute
between Pakistan and Darrell Hair that had put the Natwest
One-Day International Series in doubt. After a meeting with
the PCB and ECB officials, the ICC disclosed to the media
that Darrell Hair had written them an email offering to quit
his umpiring duties on a non-negotiable payment of US$ 500,000.
The email also specified that the payment should be transferred
to his account latest by August 31st, 2006. When asked why
did the ICC disclose the matter to the media, ICC said that
since PCB were told about this email in the meeting, it was
feared that PCB might disclose it to the media, thereby, hurting
the integrity of the governors of the game. After consulting
with their own lawyers and later with PCB’s too, ICC
thought it was safe to make the matter public.
On the other hand, Darrell Hair seemingly did not expect this
from ICC. He had anticipated that ICC might accept the offer
but public would get to know nothing about it. However, as
soon as the news became public, Darrell Hair withdrew his
offer saying that he wanted to continue his role as an umpire
until his contract expires in March 2008.
On a whole, this so-called offer has been mocked by analysts,
cricketers and experts worldwide. The prodigious Dickie Bird
even said that he was shocked and stunned by Hair’s
actions. The incident has also been termed as a ‘positive
one’ for Pakistan’s case of proving them innocent.
Pakistan team manager Zaheer Abbas pointed that Hair’s
offer boosted Pakistan’s claims of being free of malice.
What Hair attempted to do was demand such exorbitant amount
to supposedly compensate for the matches he would have to
officiate and the money he would generate from them. However,
in reality, he was looking at a perfect retirement. No umpire
in the history of cricket would have dreamt of living such
a luxurious life after retirement. Infact, umpires even do
not earn anywhere near half-a-million dollars in their entire
umpiring careers. Yet Darrell Hair, a mastermind that he is,
had it all planned. He also intends to write his second book
and would certainly have liked some added spice to increase
the volume of sales. Perhaps he may just have added too much
spice!
This demand by Darrell Hair, if accepted, would also lure
other umpires to engage in such unsportsmanlike activities
and demand such money to retire wealthier than they could
ever be. Darrell Hair’s email could also be a step towards
diverting attention of the media from the main incident. Why
did Darrell Hair change the ball when no evidence of ball-tampering
worked in his favour? Everyone is talking about Inzamam’s
failure to take field after tea but can anyone answer the
above question in the first place?
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