REVERSE SUING

Here is what Imran Khan said after last year's for-feet frac-arse:

"Unless Darrell Hair can supply concrete proof of ball-tampering, then I think the Pakistan management should seriously consider suing him. It's a very serious allegation to accure a team of cheating: if I were in their position, I would certainly consider suing Hair."

That's even without the Loin of Lahore's (that's not a tpyo) mini-Hitler remarks.

But what goes around, comes around, as they say. With luscious irony, Hair's suing the ICC AND Pakistan. Brilliant.

Who knows, perhaps Pakistan did indeed threaten to sue Hair, but they probably wouldn't have gone through with it. Any threat merely would have put the frighteners up the ICC, causing those spineless blancmanges to toe the line, so it would have served their purpose well enough.

Whatever their motivations, we know the upshot: Hair had his goats scaped.

An "outraged" PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf now has his ghasts in a flabber: "Hair was removed from the ICC panel of umpires because of his bad umpiring and poor judgment." Balderdash, of course, that is flatly contradicted by the embarrassed ICC's own rankings which had Hair as the second best umpire after Simon 'Zum' Taufel.

Maybe it's a foolhardy gambit, but as Carrot writes Hair wouldn't be doing this without some pretty robust legal support.

Nor is that business about the 500K relevant. The truth is Hair was in active negotiation about a settlement with people at the ICC but others there white-anted him and then went running to the press with his email. Pigs. It's about the only time in their sad, pathetic history that's they've acted with any alacrity. They only did it to embarrass Hair. And, yes, as it transpired it was an ill-advised course of action from Hair.

Three things are for sure. It took balls to call Murali for chucking; it took balls to forfeit Pakistan for tampering; and it took balls to go the ICC and Pakistan for racial discrimination. Even if that, like Pakistan's earlier thrust and/or parry, is to force the ICC into coughing up a satisfactory resolution.

The ICC have neutered umpires because of vested pressures, so there can only one thing to say - Go you good umpire.

Comments

[pat]

Well said. Hair is proving yet again he's not only smart but with the guts to go with it. Go the Hair.

Re. the 500K I still am missing what was wrong with Hair's actions. I have seen plenty of colleagues in my time do exactly what Hair has done. Management or the Board want to remove an employee, CEO, etc for whatever reason and it is perfectly normal practice that the employee makes on offer to go quietly. Every Board Room in the country runs on exactly the same lines.

You are spot on to note that people with contrary motivations "white-anted him and then went running to the press with his email." And the media duly shat on Hair. Anyone can read the Business pages of any MSM medium and see that what Hair was attempting is *common* and *accepted* business practice.

[Tony.T]

Actually, yeah. By "ill-advised course of action" I certainly didn't mean he should have passed on negotiating a settlement. I meant his timing and execution were a bit out of whack.

[Mr Z]

I like Ashraf's coment regarding Hair's mental state.

So he not only wants to get done for racial discrimitation, it's libel (or defamation or whatever it is, get over yourself) as well.

[Tony.T]

Ashy sounds like one of the "professionally outraged". I don't take them too seriously.

[Mr Z]

It's hard to take any PCC member seriously. They are never there long enough.

[Tony.T]

Bunch of maniacs. Should change PCB to PCP.

[13thMan]

Go Dazza! Have you read the piece of shit that 'Witless Will' Luke has written for Crocinfo (no prizes for guessing whose side they're on - yeah, that's right, it hasn't changed)? What shits me about this wanker is that he trades outrageously on his Crapinfo connections on his blog, as if this gives him some sort of authority. Clearly, he exhibits no obvious bias here. Nice to see that both he and his masters have managed to report impartially - yet again.
Little wonder Hair got so thoroughly shafted over this earlier on.
Despite his having clearly been screwed for both racial and fiscal reasons, it'll be interesting to see if Daz can win this. At the very least, I hope that he manages to severely embarrass the ICC and the Asian Bloc (PCB in particular). Of course, as Ashraf has already intimated, Hair is the racist here, not everyone else.
Can anyone spell 'vendetta'? (Which will hopefully now bite all of the spineless pricks on the arse).

[Francis Xavier Holden]

As far as can see they are all, to a man, tampering with their balls, constantly, and getting paid for it.

[TimT]

Testicleing, testicleing, one, two, one two. Is this thing on?

[Harry]

I'm sure it'll all be settled out of court, but I'd love to see the Hair suit go to trial. To see all the evidence laid out before an actually impartial arbiter, to sit back and watch the PCB try to wiggle its way out of its ridiculous position, would be a wonderful thing to behold.

[Tony.T]

The abridged Spanky: "The world is a different place ... and by the way, if Hair had ignored the rules everything would have been just fine. Top hole."

[Tony.T]

Futher comment at La-Dee-Da Poodle: Some sensible, some not so sensible. My comment, of course, takes sensible to whole new levels of sensibleness.

[Tony.T]

13th: Yeah, I saw that. I rarely take any notice of what's written at CrocInfo, being as they are, a bunch of ICC flacks, stooges, suck-ups and soft-cocks.

FX & Tim: Balls to both of youze.

H: Hair Suit - gold.

[13thMan]

TT: succinct, and to the point. Well put.

[Professor Rosseforp]

I read Peter Roebuck's piece on Hair's lawsuit, and once again it lets Roebuck down. His assertion that Hair is hopeless is not backed by an examination of the facts. Instead we get a rambling rumination on the state of cricket and its management -- whic has little to do with the issues involved in the suit.
In fact, maybe Umpire Hair might consider suing Peter Roebuck, too.
Maybe they could make a musical of the whole thing: HAIR.

[Clem Snide]

Go Dazza. The spirit of Cec Pepper lives. Even in his current mouldering state Cec would make a better enforcer of the rules than the current mob of umpiring soufflés. At last the ICC can explain why they played "Pin the Blame on the Honky" with only one umpire in the Paki forfeit. Let's hope Johann Botha pursues a similar path and forces the ICC to explain why only some chuckers get called. Still, the law is a lottery, so this may not suceed. I was recently reading about how Jeffrey Bernard successfully sued a magazine for libel for alleging that he was drunk on perhaps the only day of his life when he wasn't. I just hope the physical evidence is really really obvious. I wouldn't put it past the ICC and Pakis to tamper further with the ball before it gets submitted as evidence.

[Tony.T]

Prof, Spanky is all over the place on chucking. On one hand he raves that Hair calling Murali is a disgrace; then on the other he asserts chucking be treated as just another no-ball.

Which is it? Who knows.

[Sana]

AOA Dr. Nasim Ashraf Sb.

I say something about Pakistani Cricket Team. The New Captain of Pakistan Shoaib Malik Such a good player. But I think that is not aplicable for as Pakistani captain. The Pakistani captain would be a great man responcible all thing, good player like ricky ponting or flemin or jaywardanay etc. I think shoaib is not suitable for this job, Plz check first of yousaf. is a great player. good performer. if shoaib malik as captain and would be Muhammad Yousaf as a Vice Captain. These are suitable for these job. Good Luck Nasim Sb. and Good Luck Pakistani Cricket Team.