Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq issued a stark warning to cricket chiefs on Tuesday: Clear me of ball tampering or the tour of England is finished.
The star batsman faces an International Cricket Council (ICC) disciplinary hearing in London on Friday for his part in the events that saw Pakistan forfeit the fourth Test against England at The Oval on Sunday — the first time this has happened in the 129-year-history of Test cricket — after they’d been found guilty of ball-tampering.
Pakistan’s refusal to take the field after tea saw England awarded the match and with that victory they took the four-match series 3-0.
Inzamam’s threat could now see next week’s Twenty20 international and ensuing five-match one-day series against England abandoned, with the cost to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) estimated at £10-million.
The skipper faces charges of ball-tampering as well as bringing the game into disrepute. If found guilty of the disrepute charge, Inzamam could be banned for the entire one-day series.
But it is the ostensibly lesser charge of ball-tampering that threatens to derail the tour.
”We will wait for the decision and then make up our minds but it would be difficult for the players to play on if we are labelled cheats,” Inzamam told Britain’s Daily Express newspaper.
Australian umpire Darrell Hair angered Pakistan when, at the end of the 46th over of England’s second innings on Sunday, he signalled to the scorers that five penalty runs were being added to the hosts’ total.
For Pakistan, at the centre of ball-tampering controversies during the 1990s, the relatively small penalty couldn’t disguise their hurt.
Inzamam apologised to spectators deprived of more than a day’s cricket at The Oval but said: ”The issue of being labelled cheats, though, was too important to let lie.”
On Monday both Pakistan Cricket Board chairperson Shaharyar Khan and Inzamam called on the ICC to prevent the 53-year-old Hair, a veteran of 76 Tests, from ever standing in one of their matches again.
And Inzamam added: ”Since I took over as Pakistan captain three years ago there have been no issues with ball tampering — except when Darrell Hair has been umpiring.”
Reflecting on the incident that sparked one of the most extraordinary scenes in cricket history, Inzamam said he’d been completely taken aback.
”The first I knew of this issue was when Darrell Hair decided to change the ball. He didn’t mention a bowler who was at fault — my decision to take Umar Gul off at the time was a purely cricket decision, and he didn’t mention any evidence, only that he was changing the ball.
”At first he refused to show me the ball … I argued that it was my right to see it. There was nothing wrong with it.
”It looked like a normal 56-over ball, which had visited the boundary a few times.”
Pakistan twice missed a chance to take the field after tea when the umpires came out, a move that cost them plenty of sympathy from neutrals.
”We decided to stay in the dressing room as a means of expressing our anger. We didn’t want to play on under the cloud of being called cheats.
”I asked the boys if they had done anything wrong and they all said no.”
And Inzamam was adamant that at no stage while they were conducting their protests did anyone tell Pakistan they risked losing the match.
”Darrell Hair came in to warn us that if we didn’t come out we would face another charge — at no point did he say we would forfeit the game.”
Inzamam’s interview appeared to be part of a concerted media campaign ahead of the skipper’s hearing before ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
Shaharyar held a press conference at a London hotel on Monday while Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, the former England all-rounder, appeared on several news programmes including BBC television’s current affairs flagship Newsnight.
Pakistan officials have repeatedly insisted they’ve no gripes against England, with whom they say cricket relations are now excellent.
But whereas England had previously been viewed as bystanders in the affair, it emerged on Tuesday that coach Duncan Fletcher had been seen speaking to match referee Mike Procter on Sunday morning, leading to suggestions that a complaint from the hosts may have sparked the whole incident.
”Duncan did have a meeting with the referee but that is not unusual,” said England spokesperson James Avery. ”There was no complaint about the condition of the ball.”
Nevertheless the ECB refused to specify what was said during the conversation between the former Rhodesia teammates. — Sapa-AFP