I do not wish to comment on the cricket drama that happened last night. But then everyone will have an opinion, there will be debates, ‘Tell us’ series, SMS polls, balls fight and comparisons with BCCI etc 
I will leave all that to the expert, elite panel 
Two things caught my attention. First was that ICC Match Referee Mike Procter, didnt know what was happening. Ha ha 
Then when I was reading this BBC article, I was amused by these lines ‘The ICC offices in Dubai are officially closed on Monday because of a public holiday but match referee Mike Procter is compiling a report on the first forfeited Test in 1,814 matches’
Eh? The house is on fire, and they want to celebrate a public holiday instead of clearing out the mess. Very nice Shows how much of a control ICC has over the game
23 Responses to “ICC?”
on 21 Aug 2006 at 2:16 pm # rubic_cube
Pak has been involved for a very long time, it is time that they were shown the way. Too bad that they wanted to protest even after they were discovered wrong.
Maybe Darrell Hair seems partial, but that does not do away with the truth of the episode. MM may be great, but I still do not regard him as a great bowler or anything. Like someone in blogosphere calls him - he is Merrilythrowin’!
BTW, dont even bother comparing with BCCI. BCCI is at the top of the garbage heap! Imagine asking your players to play when security alarms had been sounded and monsoon being in its most vigorous season!!
on 21 Aug 2006 at 4:15 pm # s
ICC has its HQ in Dubai and its after all followed what every office would generally do. It clearly shows they just treat this incident as just another day in office…if its a public holiday then deal with it next working day.Clearly ICC deals with regulations, code of conduct and anything similar, so they probably just want to stick to that. Its not a state of international emergency or lives are being lost that calls for the heads of ICC to convene an extraordinary meeting.
c’mon it’s just a cricket match….and we know the reputation of Darrell Hair and Pakistan and you can’t blame ICC (!!?!). Its the fans who are real losers as they are not going to get a penny back for the lost days’ play. While I’m sure the players umpires and everyone else will be paid their salaries.
on 21 Aug 2006 at 4:18 pm # Maverick
from the joint statement issued by ICC, ECB and PCB…
//The award of those penalty runs for alleged interference with the ball is under review by the ICC match referee Mike Proctor, whose report will be considered in due course.//
This is ridiculous. They have decided that Pak have forfeited it but the root cause of all this has not been resolved yet and is still under review. Maybe, Pak had to forfeit the match for not taking the ground after tea. maybe, thats what the rules say. but what will they do if they find out that there is no substantital evidence that Pakis didnt tamper the ball. So how are they going to justify the umps decision of 5 penalty runs? whats the use of this decision coming 2 days after the match is over? Are they going to penalise the umpires and apologise to Pak?
on 21 Aug 2006 at 4:26 pm # F e r r a r i
RC,
As Maverick pointed out, they still arent clear about whether the Ball tampering happened
S,
True, no lives have been lost. But then, whats the job of ICC? If they cannot diffuse the tension and set things right, who will? Look at the contradictions and confusions due to this episode. ICC is the boss. What is a boss worth if the tensions cannot be diffused? Its not an international emergency. But by cricket standards, it is. For the first time in history, a team has forfeited a match, and they want to celebrate their public holiday
on 21 Aug 2006 at 4:27 pm # Srivat
One such ‘Tell Us’
“Did you have tickets for the last day’s play.Send in your comments”
No points for guessing - BBC.:-D
I’m not sure if there was any 606 message thats complaining of missing the last day of the match.
on 21 Aug 2006 at 4:41 pm # s
Ferro…
I agree as the governing body of cricket they shld diffuse tensions and confusions. But I would say quite cynically, in all the formalities, they would again stick to the letter of the law and they deliberated for 4 hrs after play at the Oval y’day,(acc to Mark Nicholas on Channel five in UK,live at 20:00 hrs) that by sticking to the words in the law..the umpires are correct in what they did.Full stop. Everyone can talk of ifs and buts, and even moral considerations but eventually they will close it according to what the laws and regulations state. Even ICC is going to do that I’m sure.
btw: i don’t think the BBC report says they were celebrating a public holiday. It merely states its a public holiday, meaning their offices are closed, so they will probably issue official statements when they open shop. btw: pls don’t think i’m supporting ICC, no, I don’t.
on 21 Aug 2006 at 5:40 pm # Maverick
//But I would say quite cynically, in all the formalities, they would again stick to the letter of the law and they deliberated for 4 hrs after play at the Oval y’day,(acc to Mark Nicholas on Channel five in UK,live at 20:00 hrs) that by sticking to the words in the law..the umpires are correct in what they did.//
S,
Umps are correct in what they did. I do not know the exact rules on ball tampering, but if they have a law that states that an umpire can penalise a team for ball tampering without any evidence (the ump seeing it or the TV cams catching it or the batting team complaining about it), then can they justify it? A ball can go out of shape for many a reason. A batsman like Pietersen was thrashing the ball yesterday and nobody can deny that it could be a reason too. It could be one of those shots that landed in the gutter outside the fence also. So, can a ump like Hair who has a history of bias against the Asian teams can use this excuse of a ball getting out of shape and put the blame on the fielding team without any evidence? I find this hard to believe.
on 21 Aug 2006 at 5:56 pm # s
Maverick…
I think I didn’t make myself very clear in the prev message, when i say umpires are correct in what they did….was to award the match to Eng based on the fact that the Pak team did not come out to play for 15 min after Eng batsmen or umpires walked out. When Darrell Hair put the bails down…meant match has been forfeited…purely for the reason that Pak bastmen did not come out to play.
I certainly think they will stick to the rule book, wordings in the regulations and all such stuff, but they will also treat it as two seperate incidents. The question of “why” pak protested and the cause of effect of the ball tampering matter will be dealt with as a seperate issue and in my opinion will be difficult to prove as u so rightly say there is no TV evidence.So i don’t argue against the core matter at all. I agree abt Hair and his dodgy history. But trust Pak to have protested in the way they did…and look what happened.
on 21 Aug 2006 at 6:25 pm # Maverick
S,
OK. Got that point. I can’t really blame Pak for the way they protested. Though the rules might interpret that action to be forfeiting a match, I’d agree with Inzy when someone points a finger at you that you are cheating without any evidence to substantiate. Pakis would have felt insulted and lodged a protest and delayed the resumption. By the way, I remember David Lloyd reading from the rule books about something that not taking the field cannot exactly be interpreted to be a forfeiture but a way of registering the protest during the delay. He said something like this…
“As long as the team agrees the continue play later, the loss in time can be compensated later during the day or the next.”
Btw, I remember Ranatunga taking his team off the field when Hair called Murali for chucking in Australia in a tri-series ODI match against England. The officials later managed to convince Ranatunga and had the Lankans play later. I wonder how that cannot be treated as a forfeiture?
on 21 Aug 2006 at 6:36 pm # s
well that is true….but i think the blame centrally lies with Darrell Hair, bcos he put the bails down and that is recorded as forfeiture. and yes I r’ber the Ranatunga match in Aus. So everything kind of points to Darrell Hair. Maybe he thought too much attention is being given to Israel,lebanon and foiled terrorist plots, and said c’mon lets bring it on for cricket!!
and it would have been a more effective protest if Inzy took up an argument with umpire on the ground, ie when he awarded 5 runs, and tried to walk off the field…just as AR did, but trust whichever brihaspathi in pak dressing room to have given out that advice!!
on 21 Aug 2006 at 8:48 pm # rubic_cube
If you read what Inzy has to say about the episode, I think you have to give it to the Pakis for their patriotism. Good show!
on 22 Aug 2006 at 1:32 pm # Kanagaraj
Hi All,
This is just a story for the media, particularly the Indian media read NDTV and CNN IBN.
First whatever be the issue, India is not involved and PAK is involved so better we support the umpires in this case. Just for support I saw that Rameez Raja saying Hair is against Asia, not sure what major wrong he did to India.
Also talking about spirit of the game is all bullshit in this current age. You have a law and you have to follow that.
Two issues here,
whether ball was tampered or not, it is for ICC and co. to judge and (mis) handle the issue.
Now a days PAK is becoming a “sathya sandan” country….every body in PAK is asking for proof, otherday Mushraaf asked India if they had proofs that PAK and terrorists (sorry both are synonyms) were responsible for Mumbai victims. Now Imran and other asking what is the proof of ball tampering? Video evidence alone is not sufficient because of angles and endorsements missing some coverage. So umpires are there for adjudication.
Pak should be penalized severely, particularly Inzy, he is lazy, we know the time he takes to go out after he gets out. If we allow this kind of blackmail then if a team is in a bad position or batsmen injured or weather forecast bad for next day, they will say end of 4th day we want to stage a protest as a symbol to show our displeasure on the pitch etc. Then day 4 will go off and day 5 rain Gods will save them….
Chance for Indians and Indian media to get at Pak. but we are supporting our hostile neighbour as usual….
Me remember Kamal’s dialogue in Singaravelen to Vadivel during a fight sequence…..dei nee enda pakkam da….?
Kanagaraj
on 22 Aug 2006 at 4:36 pm # Maverick
Kanagaraj!! Chill!
Call it irony if you want…most of we Indians seem to be serious & tough in ordinary issues like sports and take a soft and neutral stance on serious issues like terrorism and war.
If we really need to take it up against Pakistan for the things we suffered at their hands, it should be in tackling terrorism and similar issues and not in sporting arena where we need to be more sporting.
on 22 Aug 2006 at 8:19 pm # s
I second maverick on the comment above!!
kanagaraj…
“First whatever be the issue, India is not involved and PAK is involved so better we support the umpires in this case”…..
what a load of nonsense! wake up man this is 2006 not 1966.
on 23 Aug 2006 at 12:51 am # F e r r a r i
I dont think I can come up with a better answer than Maverick or S
on 23 Aug 2006 at 2:28 pm # Sunil
As always, the Pakis are going over the top. Just look at their media blasting away at Hair. Quote from 7Days(http://www.7days.ae/2006/08/23/brave-or-bigoted.html):
“Can it afford to leave the game to the whims and biases of mini-Hitlers like Mr Hair?” it asked. “Is it just because the ICC’s chief executive is a fellow Australian that Mr Hair gets away with murder, despite being complained against by three South Asian boards over the last decade?”
My suggestion to the Pakis: its just a game. So get over it. Respect the umpire’s decision. Don’t convert every incident into the usual the-whole-world’s-out-to-get-us paranoia!!
- Sunil
on 23 Aug 2006 at 5:52 pm # Kanagaraj
kanagaraj…
“First whatever be the issue, India is not involved and PAK is involved so better we support the umpires in this case”…..
To S
>> what a load of nonsense! wake up man this is 2006 not 1966.
on 23 Aug 2006 at 5:53 pm # Kanagaraj
To S
>> what a load of nonsense! wake up man this is 2006 not 1966.
on 23 Aug 2006 at 5:54 pm # Kanagaraj
kanagaraj…
“First whatever be the issue, India is not involved and PAK is involved so better we support the umpires in this case”…..
To S
what a load of nonsense! wake up man this is 2006 not 1966.
so what difference does this make? Only thing is number of innocent people and children and Indian soldiers who lot their lives have increased between 1966 and 2006. Situation is not worse than it was in 1966…Can’t see anything nonsense….may be your perception of the situation needs a relook….
To Maverick….
I spoke about both sports and politics….In public life, now PAK is asking for India’s support, The truth is, without PAK and SL cricket and sponsers will survive, but if India does it, the revenue will be hit badly. So India has such a powerful Brahma Astram, so we need to use this carefully, judiciously and for our cricketing benefits. Not for the purpose of satisfying violent neighbours.
on 23 Aug 2006 at 5:55 pm # Kanagaraj
In my earlier post, read “Situation is not worse than it was in 1966″ as “Situation is worse than it was in 1966″
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