Pak want early hearing

The ICC has acted tough in the final Test and ball-tampering fiasco. It has rejected Pakistan8217;s demand not to appoint Hair for its future games and has endorsed the decision by Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove to award the match to the home team.

8220;It is hugely regrettable that the match did not end with a great finish in front of a full house,8221; ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement Wednesday. He ruled out any review of the result. Inzamam has demanded the match be declared null and void.

8220;It is not the role of the ICC to overturn the decision of on-field umpires, the people who are enshrined in the laws of cricket as the sole judges of fair and unfair play, the ultimate arbiters of the game. 8220;In this instance, the decision made by Billy Doctrove and Darrell Hair to award the match to England was the correct one under the laws.8221;

Speed said the ICC has received a letter from the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB demanding the Australian umpire should not be appointed for its future matches. 8220;However, it remains the role of the ICC and not our members to appoint umpires to Tests and one-day Internationals,8221; he said.

8220;The appointments are made without fear or favour and are based on the performances of the umpires in international matches.8221;

On the disciplinary panel hearing of Inzamam, Speed said: 8220;It should be borne in mind that the Code of Conduct hearing is not a political, racial or religious matter but a cricketing one. The hearing will deal with two separate charges, one of them the issue of the Pakistan team allegedly changing the condition of the ball and the other that it allegedly brought the game into disrepute by remaining in the dressing room when the match should have resumed after the tea interval.8221;

Australians have rallied behind Hair. Shane Warne has insisted Hair was not a racist and coach John Buchanan has said that the Aussies would never forfeit a Test. Warne said in a column in Wednesday8217;s London Times, 8220;I don8217;t think Darrell Hair is a racist. I think that he tries to do the best job that he can, like any other umpire. He goes by the letter of the law and does what he thinks umpires ought to do.

8220;It is unfortunate that he has been involved in a couple of controversies in his time, but labelling him racist is unfair,8221; Warne added.

Buchanan disapproved Pakistan8217;s method of protest, saying his side would never do it even if they get embroiled in any controversial situation. 8220;We have never done it in the past and I can8217;t see any reason why would want to do it in the future,8221; Buchanan said. 8220;As we know, we play the game pretty aggressively but I think we always play it within the rules and the spirit of the game.8221;

8216;Umpires fear Asian teams8217;

Melbourne: Former international umpire from Australia Ross Emerson has said that ball tampering has been going on for quite some time and umpires hesitate to take action against Asian teams fearing the repercussions.

8220;Ball tampering has been going on for years,8221; said Emerson, who reported Pakistan for ball tampering in 1995 and also reported Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking. 8220;There has been a number of occasions that a ball has been tampered with, but in the end most of the umpires don8217;t want to do anything about it,8221; he told Courier Mail.

Emerson said taking strong action against any country from the Asian sub-continent always ended up as a racial row. 8220;If you accuse the sub-continental sides of anything it becomes an international incident.8221;