Hair racism saga continues

Darrell Hair © Getty Images

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Darrell Hair has withdrawn his claim of racial discrimination against the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Earlier this month the Australian umpire started legal proceedings against the PCB as well as the International Cricket Council.

But the PCB today confirmed that Hair is no longer pressing the claim against them, although he is still believed to be pursuing a case of unfair dismissal by the ICC.

A PCB spokesman today said: “We are not surprised that Darrell Hair has withdrawn the outrageous allegation of racism against us.

“We will support the ICC in defending themselves against his action in any way we can.”

The U-turn comes less than three weeks after Hair's solicitors cited “unacceptable and appalling” treatment as they prepared their case against the ICC.

A statement issued on his behalf by his solicitors read: “It is our view, and that of our client, that he has been treated in an unacceptable and appalling manner – the reality in this case is that our client would not have been treated in this way if he had not been a white umpire.”

Hair, formerly a member of the ICC's elite panel of umpires, was dropped last November for international matches involving full members – the 10 major Test-playing nations.

That move came three months after he and Doctrove had been at the centre of the controversy in the world's first forfeited Test – last summer's clash at The Brit Oval between England and Pakistan.

Pakistan staged a sit-in protest at the umpires' decision to replace the match ball, effectively accusing them of illegal tampering.

The tourists' refusal to take the field eventually resulted in the abandonment and their forfeiture of the Test.

Soon afterwards, Hair offered to resign in return for 500,000 US dollars – a revelation communicated by him to the ICC via email but subsequently put in the public domain by the world governing body.