ICC refutes Hair's racial discrimintion charge

Dubai, Feb 8: Reacting sharply to Darrell Hair's allegations of racial discrimination, the ICC today said the sacked Australian umpire's claim had no merit and vowed to defend itself 'vigorously' in the matter.

''The ICC has noted reports that umpire Darrell Hair has instructed his lawyers to issue an application to the London Central Employment Tribunal alleging racial discrimination by the International Cricket Council and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

''The ICC does not believe there is merit in this claim and will vigorously defend the matter. Given the ongoing nature of proceedings, the ICC will not be making any further comment on the issue at this stage,'' the governing body said in a statement issued today.

Hair has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the ICC, which sacked him from the elite panel of umpires after the infamous Oval Test fiasco Last August.

''I can confirm that I have instructed my lawyers...to issue an application in the London Central Employment Tribunal alleging racial discrimination by the ICC and PCB,'' Hair told reporters in Nairobi yesterday.

The controversial Australian and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove terminated the Oval Test in England's favour after Pakistan refused to take the field, following allegations of ball-tampering.

The controversy turned into a major furore which led to a four-ODI ban on Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq for bringing the game into disrepute and sacking of Hair from the international panel after the PCB complained about his role in the match.

The whole issue left Doctrove completely unaffected and he continues to stand in international matches while Hair's biggest assignment since the controversy has been supervising the ICC World League.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board has also reacted angrily to Hair's lawsuit and board President Nasim Ashraf told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that he was ''outraged'' by the Australian's allegations. ''I am just simply outraged. I can't believe it, this is adding insult to injury. Race has nothing to do with this. Mr Hair was removed from the elite panel of umpires by the full ICC board which has many countries, including England and Australia, which are non-white,'' the PCB chief said.

''I am just flabbergasted. This is the most preposterous thing I've heard, when our lawyer told me we had received a letter from his solicitors accusing the ICC of racial discrimination and naming the Pakistan Cricket Board as a party to this issue,'' he added.

Mr Ashraf said Hair was sacked because of his ''bad umpiring and poor judgement'' and that the latest allegations by the official did no good to his already tarnished reputation.

''I think this is probably another manifestation of Mr Hair's mental status. I daresay it sounds almost as if he's not only just very impetuous or stubborn, if he made a mistake a man should have stood up and said 'I made a mistake','' he said.

''For him earlier to have also asked for a half-a-million dollars during the incident and saying 'look, give me this money and I will simply walk away', and now suing the ICC and naming the PCB as a party for racial discrimination, smacks to me of another bit of, perhaps, opportunism,'' he pointed out.

The PCB chief said Hair's accusation that the ICC let off Doctrove despite the Dominican being equally responsible for the controversy were laughable.

''That is even worse. I read that and just laughed out aloud because it is crass for him to say a black West Indian umpire was let off when he was a white man therefore he was charged. This (race) has nothing to do with it. Mr Hair was the senior umpire and he actually took over that Oval cricket match. I was present there,'' he recalled.

''We have brought to the ICC even before, many instances in which Mr Hair had almost brought Test cricket into disrepute by making decisions that were impetuous, hasty, ill-considered and without any basis of fact. And that is why ultimately he had it coming from his umpiring standpoint,'' he futher added.

UNI