Hair removed from Elite Panel?

Indian TV channel NDTV 24/7 is reporting that controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair has been removed from the ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires. A quote stating that “Darrell Hair is unlikely to officiate in future international matches” has been unearthed, but the source is as yet unconfirmed.

An ICC meeting is currently ongoing, which will discuss Hair’s future among other things, but the outcome of the meeting was not expected to be discovered for some time afterwards.

Hair was blamed for the first forfeiture of a Test match i history when Pakistan were accused of ball-tampering in September of this year. At the Oval against England, the visiting side refused to take the field in protest against Hair’s claims, and therefore forfeited the match.

Hair was also involved in controversy after the match, as it was revealed he had offered to resign his position in exchange for a payment of $500,000 dollars from the ICC. The ICC found Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq innocent of ball-tampering charges, but guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, and he was banned for four ODIs.

Hair was withdrawn from the Champions Trophy tournament in India for “safety and security reasons”, and Pakistan have made it clear they do not wish him to officiate in any more of their games.

An ICC spokesman has announced that the outcome of the ICC meeting will be made public on Saturday. Until then any claims about Hair’s future are purely conjecture.