Well Prems brought good points, but Aussie umpiring during those days was relaly nototrious and Hair cant be singled out. I remmeber a commentator say yeah the ball was pitched outside leg but it was so beautiful that it deserved a wicket. The ACB would try to game cricket to attract fans to a all winning squad, the same that is appreciated by Indian media forever. However Aussie umpiring including Hair has improved dramatically in recent years, and the point is correct that is no umpire will try to challenge ball tampering etc even if performed. Btw, Pakistan has a longer history of ball tampering than all umpires have made such decisions, so there might be value to his doubts. Man we should start seeing the ball reversing form 15 overs and wonder where all this talent came from not knowing that this decision might have allowed ordinary bowlers to becoem extraordinary. Future bodes well for the ordinary Indian seam attack.
Cricket,as a game, is taking a ugly turn with racism raising its ugly head with western media(australian,new zealand and england) crying foul and blaming asian nations for this fiasco of HAIR .He should have been kicked out uncermoniously the moment /day he demanded ransom from ICC.But,no malcom speed was defiantly defending him as he if he was snowhite and could do no wrong and i doubt if he would have taken such a step if it were venkatraghavan or other asian umpire.
Prem, apart from the purely racist and outrageously ridiculous remarks, what sets me gloating is the fact that twenty years ago, India was spat upon. Today, they talk about the "financial clout" of India. Not necessarily coincident with the economic bonanza India enjoys these days. That some white folks could wag their fingers at us brown babus for "disciplining" is a thing of past and that's what gives me a kick!
Cheers for throwing Hair out. Hair was a CHEATER all throughout and I believe a racist - all his ugly decisions were against brown skin.
Australia, England and New Zealand by supporting Hair clearly depicts the racism prevailent in this world, though politically and diplomatically everyone denies it. It's a shame but inside our souls we know.
when the white man makes the rule- it is good for all ( though only th ewhite man benefits)
when a dark skinned man rules it is gang bang
when will the white man wake up
they made the rule " umpires decision final " but umpire is human and like us he screwup and if we have aperson like darrel hair god save the teams from non white land
well said and well articulated by the author the hypocrsy of the ex colonials
this is their own medicine and as rightly said the indian block is correcting some of the mess and making it level field for all
umpires should beware when they loose the ability to be neutral and there is no problem for wthose who are making honest mistakes and follow the rules and have a clear conscience
i would like to point out to the writers who think that SA , WI and zimbabwe will side with india , is not because of india's financial clout but because of the way blacks have been treated by whites :d
Hair is an extrmely prejudiced person with a definite bias against the coloured teams.So is the ICC.I would like to ask these questions.The scenario is this: it's now 2-2 ENG VS AUS.It's the 5th day and we are in the last hr .The Englishmen need 50 runs more to win the match and thus the series and the Aussies need 3 wkts.The umpires are Aleem Darr and Billy Doctrove.Suddenly Aleem does exactly what Hair did and Billy does exactly what he did and the match is awarded to the English.would the Aussies and the ICC take this lying down?As before with thePakistanis the Aussies are cleared of ball tampering.Will they then accept losing the Test match under these circumstances.Suddenly Aleem asks for $500,000us to quit.What would be the reaction of the "big boys"???Aleem is then fully supported by the "BIG 4"viz.ind/pak/sl/bd saying how excellent and brilliant etc he is.Would the Aussies and ICC accept this quietly?The Aussies the English and the ICC seem to have this policy :"DON'T DO WHAT I DO,DO WHAT I SAY"!and we in turn are supposed to say :" OH VERY WELL SAHIB/MASSA.For sure this nonsense has to stop.This has nothing to do with Asian muscle power.EVERYONE MUST BE TREATED EQUALLY.
Idiot Harpreet...Why not bring the umpires to accountability when they pass such stupid judgements...you want India to suffer at the hand of that stupid, racist, biased umpire...
Good article. We need to police the Police too. Umpires need to be evaluated often. Hair got away for too long. He should have been sacked immediately after the match.
Very brilliantly put. I think it is time correct the balance of power that has been theirs for the last 150+ years. We do not even want to get into numerous other instances of Eng - Aus bloc gaining / influencing cricketing decisions on and off the field. The only problem with us Asians is that we are not very subtle unlike them.
