Just when you thought the cricketing world was just about getting back to normal again, things settling down nicely, England winning a couple of games, a thrilling series between Pakistan and South Africa under way, and the World Cup just around the corner, it felt like some of the controversies of last year, such as drugs bans and then first forfeiture of a game of cricket in 129 years had been conveniently forgotten, had been rightly swept under the carpet forgotten about. Well, Darrell Hair has put the kibosh on that by announcing that he’s now suing the ICC and …read more

Won’t this thing just die? In yet another twist, that is, after the ICC announced that they’d moreorless sacked Darrel Hair, and then said he was their second-best, he’s now been voted #1 Umpire in the World by Wisden, receiving 34% of the vote ahead of Simon Taufel with 16%.
Now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the stats have been somewhat skewed by recent events, and that no doubt cynical non-Pakistani punters will undoubtedly have voted for Hair just for the heck of it.
But whether he is the number 1 umpire in the world, or more realistically number …read more

The argument over the Ovalgate continues to rage. Despite Pakistan getting their way and having Darrell Hair removed from International duty, they’re still unwilling to cough up the requested £800,000 in compensation for the forfeiture of the game. Instead, they’ve come up with a new plan: they’ll play cricket against us.

“We have told (ECB chairman) David Morgan that we are willing to play a one-dayer next summer in England and revenues earned from that game after deducting expenses can be taken as compensation.”

Admittedly, I don’t know how a profit share of International matches usually works but this idea of a …read more

The charges of ball-tampering against Inzamam Ul Haq were today repudiated as ICC “judge” Sanjan Madugalle decided there was insufficient evidence to uphold the charge. However, he did find Inzy guilty of bringing the game into disrepute after twice refusing to bring his players out to the field. For this offence, he was banned for 4 ODI’s. It seems sense has prevailed. Or has it?

The inquiry in to the ball-tampering scandal gets underway at The Oval today, which will hopefully put this whole thing to bed. If you missed out on this whole affair then read my “as it happened” and then check out the BBC’s timeline.

The “trial” of Inzamam Ul Haq, accused of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute begins on Wednesday and will take two days. The decision, to be made by ICC Chief Referee Sanjan Madugalle, will be announced on Friday. Inzy faces forfeiture of his match fees and possibly a ban from the game.
And, in a cruel twist of fate, where will the hearing be held? The Oval, where it all kicked off. Ought to be an interesting few days.

Well someone had to make the joke. Darrell Hair has finally spoken up (in as much as the media have finally managed to print something) and has basically said what we were all thinking. Like everyone else involved in the whole saga, he’s sticking to his guns. He’s said he was just doing his job as well as believing he was right. Was he? Well that’s what the poll is for. So get voting.
Quite how this has angered the whole sub-continent, though, is quite beyond me. Whilst controversial, you can’t argue with the fact that Hair was simply doing his …read more

The Pakistani ball tampering scandal isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Every day that new revelations about the scandal emerge from the murky media waters. And every day, an extra chip is taken out of the good name of Cricket. A lot has been said about the spirit of the game, and how damaging this whole debacle is going to be.
So as something of a quick interlude, may I present two cricketing items that’ll remind you why you love this game. It won’t make the scandal go away, but it’ll be a quick hiatus from it all.
Number 1: One …read more

So a day has passed since one of the most controversial test matches in Test history since the Bodyline tour was officially forfeited. If you don’t know about this – where have you been? OK, I’ll let you off. There’s enough accusations flying around without me starting on you. Sorry.
Anyway – 24 hours on and where are we? Well, still floating about in a cloud of confusion. This argument is going to rage and rage, until everyone gets really bored, and then remembers that the Ashes are but a few months away.
A few things have emerged:

… and still no closer to any sort of resolution. If you didn’t witness it, then read this and get yourself up to speed. And as I sit here, some 4 hours after the events began to unfold, I’m still no closer to knowing what’s going on. There has simply been nothing forthcoming from any of the powers-that-be involved in figuring out what’s going on.
UPDATED BELOW