Adil Najam
The news is too fresh, murky on the details, and still developing, but as Adnan Ahmed has just pointed out on the comments section of another post, Pakistan walked out of — and therefore possibly forfeited — the 4th Cricket Test against England at the Oval, in a dramatic turn of events. Then, it was announced that Pakistan will take the field… but just as the crowd begins to cheer, the umpires decide they will not come out if the Pakistan team does. Meanwhile the light keeps deteriorating. No matter how this ends, this will be a drama to remember.
More and developing details are available here. Best place to stay informed on this is CrickInfo.Com, from where the photograph above is are linked. (Updated after original posting).
What has spine got to do with ICC?
I was listening to the Radio Pakistan commentators while driving home, and one of them suggested that Duncan Fletcher visited Hair last night, and complained to him that the Pakistani team had tampered with the ball in the first innings, which resulted in a 173 run haul by England. I don’t know if its true, I just heard the commentator say that.
Looking forward to the Match Referee’s report, who happens to be a South African too, like Hair.
Yeh OOnTh kiss karwat baithay ga? Who knows?
Darrell Hair is without doubt the most controversial umpire in cricket today. He has shown his prejudice against south asian teams on several occasions. To unilateraly accuse and fine a team for ball-tampering is unacceptable and anything short of expelling Mr Hair from international cricket will be a show of utter spinelessness on the part of the ICC. Bigots such as Mr Hair should be surgically excised from any walk of life, including sports.
From Cricinfo.com
… The initial incident took place in the 56th over, when umpires Hair and Doctrove deemed that the quarter seam on the ball had been raised and would therefore have to be changed. But the situation only really kicked off after tea, as the Pakistanis remained in their dressing-room in protest at the decision.
After waiting in the middle of the pitch for twenty minutes, he umpires went to the Pakistan dressing-room to ask whether or not Inzamam-ul-Haq would lead out his team or not before they went out, took the bails off and left, thus awarding the Test to England.
Cricinfo has learnt that after Pakistan refused to come out after the tea break, both umpires, after waiting on the field, went to the Pakistan dressing room to ask whether or not they would continue to play. Inzamam countered by asking the umpires why they had changed the ball, which led to the Pakistan team protesting.
“We are not here to answer that question,” Hair was reported to have said, and when Inzamam didn’t provide any reply to their initial query, they walked back out again. By the time Pakistan were eventually led out onto the field by Inzamam, the umpires had already walked on, knocked the bails off and gone back inside, refusing to come out again.
The decision was made according to Law 21, regarding the result of a match, which states, “A match shall be lost by a side which in the opinion of the umpires refuses to play.” A further subsection adds, “If an umpire considers that an action by any player or players might constitute a refusal by either side to play then the umpires together shall ascertain the cause of the action. If they then decide together that this action does constitute a refusal to play by one side, they shall so inform the captain of that side. If the captain persists in the action the umpires shall award the match in accordance with above.”
© Cricinfo
Rehan, you are right (unfortunately!). Game goes to England. And everyone looses!
I don’t think we have heard the last of it yet. Seems like the world of cricket is going as crazy as the rest of the world. Three days ago, the South Africans pack and leave SriLanka in the middle of the tri-series and now now India and Sri lanka have also announced the cancellation of the rest of the series (this time because rain has already caused cancellations and more rain is in the forecast).
It appears that the test has been awarded to England as per the latest reports from the Oval. Sad day indeed for all of cricket. It appears that Pakistan refused to take to the field twice after tea after being accused of ball tampering. The umpires and the batsmen were on the field and the Pakistani team did not show up. When they did show up, the umpires did not and the game was brought to a close and as per rules of the game, it was awarded to the other side, in this case England.
Check again Adil.
Rehan, I hope it does not end like that. Here is what CricInfo has - under the headline ‘Test could still be on at The Oval”:
Plain & simple, its a matter of presenting evidence. If Darryll Hair has actually observed a Pakistani player tampering with the ball, or if an on-field camera has caught it (not declared so far), then the accusation is valid. Otherwise, the stand Pakistani team has taken is very much justified.
I just think it could’ve been handled in a better way. If they wanted to register a protest, they should’ve clearly declared it to the umpires and officials before taking the field, instead of waiting and waiting and waiting in the dressing room, locked up, even though the umpires had clearly directed them to get on the field.
I just heard on Geo that the match has been awarded to England, citing the Pakistani team’s inability to get on the field when required. Apparently, the One-day series is still on.