Sport | Cricket

Asian countries brought motion to oust Hair

Umpire Darrell Hair is said to have landed in this position mainly due to his unpleasant behaviour. According to information, many nations especially the Asian countries, voted for his ouster due to certain remarks he made against players.

  • By K.R. Nayar, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:35 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP file
  • Asian countries seemed to have a collective grouse against the Australian umpire Darrell Hair.

Mumbai: Umpire Darrell Hair is said to have landed in this position mainly due to his unpleasant behaviour.

According to information, many nations especially the Asian countries, voted for his ouster due to certain remarks he made against players.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) successfully managed to garner support against Hair presenting many incidents against him. Wasim Akram's revelation that Hair once called the Pakistan cricketers 'monkeys' was taken up seriously.

It seems that in the 1995 series, Hair called Pakistan players "monkeys" for continuously jumping in appeal. As the team captain then, Akram filed a protest. It is understood that this protest was highlighted as an instance of Hair's bad conduct as an umpire.

In an interview to Gulf News, Akram had also revealed that at the Oval when the players refused to come out, Hair had banged the door of the Pakistan dressing room and shouted nonsense.

The International Cricket Council was not willing to reveal details of Hair's ouster during the press conference, which ironically was held to announce his ouster.

However according to information, the entire Asian block comprising India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh tabled a motion at the meeting asking Hair to be taken off the panel.

The motion was supposed to have been passed by a 7-3 majority with all the four Asian nations, South Africa, Zimbabwe and West Indies voting against Hair. Only England, New Zealand and Australia voted for the umpire to continue.

Many feel that this is the group that will dictate world cricket decisions in future. The Asian group has managed to rope in most African nations by agreeing to host Afro-Asian tournaments.

West Indies too have joined the Asian group which is led by India, mainly due to the huge scope for sponsorship from Indian companies in future.

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