Hair removal cheers Ranatunga

6 November 2006

Darrell Hair © Getty Images

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has hailed the ICC’s decision to end Darrell Hair’s association with their elite panel of umpires as a good move for cricket.

The ICC announced on Saturday that Hair would not be handed any more engagements for the remainder of his contract, which is set to expire in March 2008, with ICC president Percy Sonn revealing the board had lost confidence in the Australian.

Hair's position was left tenuous after he called Pakistan for ball-tampering in the fourth Test against England at The Oval in August - which triggered a protest from the tourists and ultimately Test cricket's first forfeiture.

“Hair had a prejudice against Asian teams,” said Ranatunga. “I am happy that he is finally out. The decision will do good to future cricket. He was a wrong man from the beginning to be in the cricket ground.”

Ranatunga, now a politician, himself had a run-in with Hair in 1995 during a Test against Australia in Melbourne.

Hair no-balled Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan seven times during the Test when Ranatunga was skippering the side.

Ranatunga led his team from the field in protest. The match later resumed after officials intervened.