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Umpire Darrell Hair, after being told he wonít be officiating in the Champions Trophy, said he hopes he and Inzamam-ul-Haq can put the past behind them.

After the conclusion of the ball tampering hearing, a charge made by Hair and his colleague Billy Doctrove that Inzamam was found to be innocent of, Australian Hair made his position clear with regards to his future relationship with the Pakistan skipper.

It is likely they could come face to face again with the International Cricket Council (ICC) so far rejecting the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) request†for Hair to be spared from Pakistan games.

“If and when we do meet I will be the first person to shake his hand and I hope that is what happens,” Hair said briefly, conscious of not stepping outside the boundaries of the ICC Code of Conduct by which he is bound regarding making public comments. The ICCís decision to not send Hair to the Champions Trophy came after protests about his participation from both the Pakistan and India Boards, the latter as tournament host.

“A decision has been made in consultation with the ICC President Percy Sonn, the ICC General Manager of Cricket David Richardson and myself that he will not umpire at the Champions Trophy amid concerns over his safety and security and also the safety and security of those around him during the tournament,” ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said.

The decision by the ICC is likely to have hurt the 53-year-old umpire as he had stated previously he was looking forward to standing in the event, but he was not letting on any emotions. He is still happy to umpire in India and Pakistan, however.

“I don’t have a problem umpiring any cricket match anywhere in the world,” Hair said. “If you can’t learn to handle criticism you shouldn’t be out there. I will still go out there and do my umpiring to the best of my ability. I’m pretty bloody good at it,” he added.

Hair is one of the highest-scoring umpires on the ICC books in terms of performance, though realistically it is going to be a challenge for him to reconcile his differences, at least with Pakistan who no longer wish him to umpire their matches.

Source:The News