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.