After the extraordinary fiasco resulting from the Oval Test, it was time to get things straight. The ICC hearing at The Oval on 28th and 29th September 2006 cleared Pakistan of charges of ball tampering. Inzamam ul Haq, Pakistan captain, although was banned for four One-Day Internationals for bringing the game into disrepute by not leading his team onto the field after the tea break on the fourth day of the test match.

The decisions coming from ICC Chief Referee & Adjudicator Ranjan Madugalle at the hearing are enough to keep everyone happy. With Inzamam cleared of ball-tampering charges, it proved to the world that Pakistanis are no cheats and the allegations of ball tampering were baseless. On the contrary, it does question the authority and integrity of Darrell Hair in officiating matches anymore.

The second charge levelled against Inzamam was bringing the game into disrepute. By not walking onto the field after tea, Inzamam committed a Level III offence. Under ICC’s Code of Conduct, Inzamam was given the least severe punishment of four ODIs. Even though it may be argued that this act of Inzamam was a result of an act which was earlier cleared by the ICC, ICC still had to go by the book. Ranjan Madugalle stated that Inzamam had brought the game into disrepute regardless of what happened earlier. Therefore, as a face-saving measure, Inzamam was banned. In a way the ban is also justified because by doing otherwise, ICC would have gone against its own rulebook. In future, we would have seen many teams walking off over any wrong umpiring decision and then these hearings would have become a frequent happening. To ensure and protect the spirit of the game, the decision to ban Inzamam is a right one.

Now coming to Darrell Hair. The ICC has taken no action against such a major mistake. Only pulling him out of ICC Champions Trophy is not the solution. There should be some action against him, for he failed to act duly and only guessed ball-tampering and acted upon that guess. With conflicting reports from ICC, BCCI and Darrell Hair, the decision to pull out Hair from Champions Trophy is a surprising one.

Finally, the controversy, which should not have happened in the first place, is over. Inzamam ul Haq has done his country proud by standing up against an attempt to undermine Pakistan as cheats. Its time that cricket gets popular for on-field activities rather than those off it. The ICC Champions Trophy might be the perfect place to put all this behind and look forward to some exciting cricket.

© Copyright 2006. PointCricket.