Umpire Hair comments about chucking is true and its not just the Pakistanis and Indians that are being found suspect. Now should he have singled out certain player? Maybe not and I would disagree with him there.
The most revealing thing I've read recently in regards to the chucking issue were the comments from the Indian spinner Ashwin. He basically said that almost all the off spinners these days deliberately chuck because of the 15 degree latitude. He also said that he will develop his own chuck delivery in order to stay competitive. This of course is the polar opposite of why the rule was implemented. It was implement in order to give a "buffer zone" to bowlers who had slight bends of the elbows in their actions. But these same bowlers saw it as an opportunity to develop "mystery" balls where the only possible way to bowl them was to chuck.
This is the monster the ICC created with the absurd 15 degree allowance.
I have zero sympathy for guys like Narine, Shillingford, Senanayke, Ajmal. They deliberately chucked the ball for years knowing they could get away with it and even built successful careers from their illegal actions. But the party is over and they want to cry foul. If anything they should thank the ICC for the 15 degree rule with allowed them to pelt their way to the top and for them to make a shyte load of money in the process.
Quote:Okay fair enough Googs. He had no reason to call Murali after he had been cleared by the ICC tests. At best it was wrong of him to do that and at worst it revealed a bias against that player. A quick investigation into the matter ought to have been able to sort out that issue and if a reasonable apprehension of bias was found then Hair's career as an ICC umpire would be have untenable and that would be the end of that. Of course that didn't happen.
I think he was at Odds with the ICC thats why he retired! he claimed he did not agree with the 15 degree allowance. I am with you and him on that. That allowance should have never happened.
However, was there more than that? The ICC received many complaints on him and the bias he shows against non white teams. If there was indeed an investigation on that angle, it was kept behind closed doors. we would never know...or would we? only time will tell.
[quote author=Goog Lee link=topic=93407.msg594424#msg594424 date=1413557163]
I think he was at Odds with the ICC thats why he retired! he claimed he did not agree with the 15 degree allowance. I am with you and him on that. That allowance should have never happened.
However, was there more than that? The ICC received many complaints on him and the bias he shows against non white teams. If there was indeed an investigation on that angle, it was kept behind closed doors. we would never know...or would we? only time will tell.
[/quote]
Hair never hid the fact that he had nothing but contempt for the Pakistanis. It's why the ICC had to let him go. He sued the ICC for wrongful dismissal after trying to strong arm them for a golden parachute. In the end they settled and he went on his merry way.
There was some innuendo floating around that Hair had seen either Wasim or Waqar trying to tamper the ball in the late 90's early 2000's. He brought it to the ICC's attention and they basically said that absent video footage they couldn't do anything about it. That was the second to last straw for him and the Pakistanis. Every game he umpired with them playing you could see he had it out for them. The Oval Test match in 2006 was the proverbial last straw. He thought he saw the Pakistanis tampering the ball. He looked at it and saw a few scratches near the seams and concluded that they had indeed tampered it and awarded the Poms 5 penalty runs. Hair was looking for exactly this moment to nail the Pakistanis and vindicate his own bias. But he got it all wrong.
