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The International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Malcolm Speed believes that umpire Darrell Hair’s Test career could be over after the controversy of the past week.

Hair offered to quit top-level cricket in return for 500,000 dollars after the ball-tampering furore which lead to Pakistan forfeiting their final Test against England at The Oval. Speed said he wanted Hair to continue but did not know whether the Australian could shake off this latest controversy.

“There have been other issues in his umpiring career where people have said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’ ñ after he called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in 1996, and he then wrote a book, and people said ‘this is the end for Darrell Hair’,” Speed told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme. “Darrell survived that and has become a better umpire, he is one of the world’s best umpires, so I hope we can find a way for him to continue but I’m not sure that that will happen,” he told.

“Why? Because there’s a lot of speculation from people like Nasser Hussain and others where they say that they believe that Darrell’s career is finished, that he’s compromised. That’s not my wish, I hope we can find a way for him to continue. I would like Darrell Hair to continue umpiring in cricket matches at the top level,” he explained.

Speed said it was up to the ICC adjudicator to decide whether Hair’s actions affected the charges against Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute, brought following the team’s sit-in at the fourth Test. Inzamam refused to bring his team out to play after a break after Hair and his colleague Billy Doctrove’s decision to penalize them five runs for ball-tampering.

Speed said: “The ball-tampering issue and the subsequent charge are very simple cricketing issues about what happened on the field. Whether it impacts on Darrell Hair’s credit I don’t know, that’s a matter for Pakistan’s lawyers whether to raise that and then for the adjudicator to decide whether he takes that into account,” he said.

Speed also admitted that ICC Umpires Manager Doug Cowie now regretted replying to Hair’s e-mailed claim for cash, saying that the suggestion “may have merit”. Speed added: “That was Doug Cowie’s response and I think if he could play it again he would play it differently. When it came to me I saw that not for one second could we contemplate it. At no time did I ever consider paying Darrell any amount.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan insisted the Hair affair gave weight to their claims that the umpires had mishandled the situation. Khan said: “Yes I think it does. The rules do allow for a protest or a delay at what was an absolutely preposterous allegation.” He added that Pakistan were insistent Hair should never umpire a match involving them again.

Speed, however, insisted nothing could be ruled out. He said: “It was said he could never umpire Sri Lanka again after 1996 but he has. Time will tell water needs to flow under the bridge. I don’t what his future is but I hope we can find a way for him to continue”. Speed also confirmed the ball-tampering charge had been made by both Hair and Doctrove, and that he was not aware the England players had made any complaint.
Source:The News