NEW DELHI, 27 September 2006 — India have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to omit Australian umpire Darrell Hair from next month’s Champions Trophy.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters yesterday that president Sharad Pawar had written to ICC chief Percy Sonn.
“Our president has shown some concern,” he said. “There was a lot of controversy and there are certain issues like crowd behavior etc. We wanted to avoid unnecessary incidents.” Pakistan have already asked the ICC to drop Hair, a member of the elite umpires’ panel, from the tournament in India between Oct. 7 and Nov. 5 after his role in last month’s fourth Test against England at The Oval.
The Pakistan team forfeited the match after refusing to take the field in protest following a decision by Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove to change the ball and penalize them five runs for alleged ball-tampering.
An ICC spokesman in Dubai confirmed a letter had been sent but added: “It is up to the ICC to appoint the best umpires and officials which we will do in due course.” Hair will attend a two-day ICC hearing starting at The Oval today to consider charges of ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute against Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.
The ICC was scheduled to name the umpires for the tournament last week, but delayed the announcement till after the hearing against Inzamam. Earlier this month, Hair was quoted in Australian media reports as saying that he expected to stand in the Champions Trophy.
“I am down to umpire in the Champions Trophy and I expect to fulfill that appointment,” Hair was quoted as saying.
“I’m not sure what matches I’ll be doing but I’m looking forward to it.”
Ganguly gets final chance
to win one-day recall
In Bombay, former India captain Saurav Ganguly gets a final chance to win a recall for next month’s Champions Trophy when he takes part in a domestic tri-series in Chennai starting on Oct. 1.
The four-day tournament ends before the Champions Trophy scheduled for India from Oct. 7 to Nov. 5.
Ganguly, 34, was sacked as captain and as a national one-day player last October and then removed from the test squad early this year following a prolonged batting slump and a row with coach Greg Chappell.
