Pakistan threaten to boycott match against SA

Waqar became the first bowler to be banned for tampering with the ball when he was shown picking the seam on television during Saturday’s Singer Cup match against South Africa. Reid, who had earlier warned Waqar for a similar offence during the Kandy Test against Sri Lanka last month, threw the bowler out of Sunday’s day-night game against the hosts and fined him 50 percent of his match fees.

Zia said the sequence of events proved Reid did not have a sound case for suspending Waqar. "When television showed Waqar fiddling with the ball, Reid asked the on-field umpires over walkie-talkie to examine the ball and report back to him," he said. "Umpires Asoka De Silva and Peter Manual, who are on the international panel of umpires, saw the ball and told Reid they found nothing wrong with it. Reid, however, went ahead and penalised Waqar on his own.

"The rules of the game clearly state that the ball should be changed if it was tampered with. It was not changed by the umpires."

Zia spelt out other instances when Reid came down heavily on Pakistani players, including the suspension of another fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for throwing in Australia last year. "Shoaib was never called by any Australian umpire, yet Reid ensured the bowler was removed from international cricket by reporting his action to the ICC. If the umpires believed there was nothing wrong with Shoaib’s action, why did Reid report him on his own?"

Zia said Reid was not aware of cricket’s laws, which made him ineligible to do the job of a match referee. "During the Asia Cup in Dhaka last month, Reid warned my team for slow over-rates even when Pakistan had bowled out the opposition," he said. "Reid obviously does not know that you cannot penalise a team for not sending down it’s overs in time if it bowls out the opposition.

"I must stress here that I am not absolving Waqar, only saying that Reid uses the slightest opportunity to embarass Pakistani players," he said.

Zia revealed he had even contemplated pulling Pakistan out of it’s last Singer Cup match against South Africa on Wednesday in protest, but decided against it. "I hope the ICC will take action on my letter and remove Reid from the panel."

On the other hand, Reid, who has been on the international panel of match referees since 1992, refused to comment on Zia’s outburst.

Latif defends ban

KARACHI:Former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif on Monday defended action against fast bowler Waqar Younis for ball tampering and rejected allegations against the referee. "I believe in fair play and action must be taken against those cricketers who use foul tactics whether it is Waqar or any other bowler around the world," Latif said.

Waqar was suspended for one-match and fined 50 percent of his match fee by match referee John Reid of New Zealand on Sunday for taking the seam off a ball during the match against South Africa in Colombo on Saturday. "I am not against Waqar or Wasim Akram but I know much more about ball tampering," Latif said.

He refused to give details, saying "for Pakistan’s sake I don’t want to add much." Pakistani fast bowlers were the target of criticism for ball tampering in the past but Sunday’s action was the first of its kind against the pacer.

But Latif added: "ICC appoints the referee with certain responsibilities and I don’t think Reid was biased this time."

He advised the PCB that instead of taking the matter to the ICC it should train cricketers in fair play. Pakistan objected to Reid’s posting as match referee in the home series against Sri Lanka last March and had him replaced. (AFP)