Darrell Hair resigns from post

Darrell Hair, the Australian umpire, has tended his resignation with the ICC in order to take up a coaching role.

Hair returned to top-flight umpiring in March, six months after a period of rehabilitation that was enforced by his employers, the ICC, in response to the forfeited England-Pakistan Oval Test in 2006. Hair officiated in two Tests between England and New Zealand in May but, in spite of continuing to be on the Elite Panel of umpires, he has not been offered any more.

Consequently, he has decided to end what has been a successful umpiring career, albeit one blighted by controversy in recent years. He takes up his new role with the New South Wales Umpires and Scorers Association (NSWUSA) in 10 days.

"Darrell will concentrate on what he will do best: mentor, coaching and getting umpires up to a higher level,"

Peter Hughes, a spokesman for the NSWUSA, told The Australian.

The fracas at The Oval in 2006 was the first game in history to be forfeited after Pakistan refused to take the field, following Hair's ruling that they had tampered with the ball. Hair was subsequently stood down from any matches which involved full-member nations, although never officially removed from the Elite panel, but continued to stand in Associate games. Indeed, he is currently standing in West Indies' match against Canada in King City. He took the ICC to court claiming racial discrimination, but withdrew his claims seven days into a tribunal in London last October.

He moved back to Australia and went on a six-month rehabilitation course before being reinstated at the ICC's March meeting in Dubai. Yet although he made a quiet return to the fold in England this year, the fact he was to be "kept away" from matches involving Pakistan led many to question his status as an international umpire. In addition, Pakistan were outraged at his return to the fold.

West Indies v Sri Lanka squads for Test series

West Indies v Sri Lanka squads ahead of the Test series that starts here on Saturday:

Squads
West Indies (from): Chris Gayle (capt), Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jaywardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (vice capt), Ishara Amerasinghe, Tillakeratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Prasanna Jaywardene, Nuwan Kulasekera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Thilan Thushara, Chaminda Vaas, Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura, Chanaka Welegedera

Umpires: Simon Taufel, Billy Bowden
TV Replays: Clive Duncan
Reserve: Goaland Greaves
Match referee: Chris Broad

Hair Set To Umpire England Games

The International Cricket Council says umpire Darrell Hair is likely to stand in England's Test series against New Zealand this summer.

Hair has returned to the ICC's Elite Panel of umpires earlier this week following a six-month period of rehabilitation.

The Australian was suspended from international cricket in November 2006 in the aftermath of the forfeited Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval.

Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove awarded the match to England after Pakistan refused to return to the field following accusations of ball-tampering.

ICC general manager Dave Richardson told Sky Sports News:

"We've done appointments up until that series so the first real opportunity will be the England-New Zealand series.

"Both those teams actually rate Darrell Hair pretty highly, they have no problems with him, so it's likely that Darrell Hair will get an appointment in that series at some stage."

Umpire Hair vows to be good with players

Darrell Hair says he hopes to communicate better with the players when he returns to international test cricket umpiring after an absence of nearly 18 months.

"I've always been a little bit ... standoffish in that I've always preferred to let them play the game themselves and only get involved when things go overboard,''

Hair told a Sydney radio station Thursday.

Hair, reinstated as a test match umpire this week by the International Cricket Council, had been banned since November 2006 because of his conduct during a test between Pakistan and England that led to the first forfeit in test cricket's 129-year history.

``I won't say my whole attitude to umpiring has changed but I think I have picked up a few things that are going to be very helpful to me in the future,''

he said.

``Probably just ... having a broader understanding of what everybody else is thinking and the old communication issue of making sure that what you say and what you want is understood by the other people.''

His return comes after he completed a so-called ``rehabilitation program'' him handed him in September when he agreed to drop a claim of racial discrimination by the ICC.

Hair accused Pakistan of ball tampering and, when the team refused to take the field after a break, he and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove awarded the forfeit.

The ICC declined to say if the 55-year-old Australian could umpire any match involving Pakistan. Hair's position will be reviewed at the end of March 2009, the ICC said.

On Thursday, Hair said the incident

``caused me a lot of stress. I suppose it caused a lot of people some stress along the way.''

``The laws now have been changed to take those decisions out of the hands of the umpires and I fully support the way that that's going to happen in future,''

he added.

``So, it's time to move on.

Hair said he would be available to umpire in Pakistan.

``Part of my contract is that I'm available now to umpire test matches and one-day internationals,''

Hair said.

``Now whether that (umpiring in Pakistan) is going to happen I think you'll need to ask the people who make the appointments.''

Controversial Darrell Hair reinstated by ICC as Test umpire

The reinstatement of Darrell Hair to the full international panel of umpires was the most surprising outcome of the International Cricket Council's two-day meeting in Dubai, which finished today.

Hair has been undergoing what the ICC call "rehabilitation" since his decision to penalise the Pakistan team five runs for ball-tampering during the Oval Test of 2006 resulted in the first forfeited match in Test history.

An ICC spokesman said:

"The board have decided that he can he can be appointed to matches involving full member countries once more."

David Morgan, the incoming ICC president, said yesterday that Hair would be assigned to a full international programme.

"Mr Hair is a very good and a very competent umpire,"

he told reporters.

"He has had time away from the coalface and umpired other activities."

However, Morgan would not comment on whether Hair would be assigned to matches involving Pakistan, saying only that the allocation process would be handled by the ICC's operations manager David Richardson.

The Pakistan board are understood to be opposed to Hair's return, and it seems likely that this will be only a partial reprieve in which Hair officiates in selected matches – ie. those not involving sub-continental teams.

Today's press conference also revealed that there would be no sanctions taken against Zimbabwe Cricket, despite financial anomalies in their accounting which have been investigated by KPMG.

According to Ray Mali - the South African who is coming to the end of his term as ICC president –

"no individual or individuals have been singled out as having benefited from the finances in any way".

Instead, Mali explained, the problems – or "irregularities" – resulted from the seizure of important documentation by police and banking authorities. This ruling is unlikely to please the England and Wales Cricket Board, who are scheduled to host the Zimbabwean team twice next summer.

The press conference also included details of Inder Singh Bindra's appointment as "principal advisor" to the ICC. He will have a major role in the "promotion and development of the game", with special attention to the American market. He will also "assist host boards with the smooth functioning of ICC events".

Morgan said that Bindra had been appointed after the realisation that

"the image of the ICC could be improved, and so could relations between members".

Meanwhile, Imtiaz Patel, the man picked out as the ICC's preferred candidate to succeed Malcolm Speed as chief executive, has made it clear that this is far from being a done deal.

"I am humbled that the ICC has stated that it will invite me to fulfil such an important role within cricket, a sport that has a very special place in my heart,"

he said in a statement.

"I enjoy a most rewarding and happy career in my current role as CEO of SuperSport, which is a dynamic organisation within a wonderful international group.

"I will therefore be considering my position very carefully during the coming weeks and will be engaging in discussions with the ICC during this period."