Hair set for tribunal

Darrell Hair © Getty Images

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Darrell Hair will settle his differences with the International Cricket Council in court this week.

Hair remains one of the ICC’s elite umpires yet has not been appointed for a major international match since overseeing Test cricket’s first and only forfeited match in August 2006.

His claim of racial discrimination against cricket’s world governing body will be heard at the London office of the Tribunals Service and is set to start on Monday - the day after his 55th birthday.

Among witnesses the Australian is expected to call is Billy Doctrove - his on-field colleague on that fateful day 13 months ago when Pakistan were ruled to have forfeited the Brit Oval Test after they failed to reappear following tea on the fourth day, having been penalised for ball-tampering.

Pakistan therefore lost the series 3-0 against England, and Hair subsequently found himself in the eye of a storm as cricket’s top brass sought a resolution to an unprecedented crisis which saw Inzamam-ul-Haq charged with bringing his sport into disrepute.

The Pakistan captain was later found guilty and banned for two Tests but exonerated over ball-tampering.

A raft of candid emails from Hair to his employers were publicised by the ICC, who eventually announced - last November - that the umpire would not be appointed for any more international matches, for the duration of a contract which is due to run out in March 2008.

At the start of this year, Hair announced his intention to begin tribunal proceedings - initially against the Pakistan Cricket Board as well as the ICC.

It is reportedly expected that John Jameson, former assistant secretary of MCC, and ex-West Indies captain Jimmy Adams will appear as Hair witnesses this week.

He will be represented by Robert Griffiths QC, an MCC committee member, and will be opposed by Michael Beloff QC.

"I look forward to this matter being over and done with, so my wife and I can get on with our lives," Hair said last month.