I hope that one thing at least comes out of this ungodly mess. I know this is asking too much but the ICC should look at making some changes to the rules of cricket, which they seem to believe have been passed on directly when God Himself descended upon the original MCC headquarters (or wherever the damn rules were written) and wrote them down in His likeness, never to be challenged again.
Many people are hiding behind the argument that Pakistan should not have protested the way they did. Maybe so, but this has to be taken in the broader concept. You have to keep in mind the history behind it all. this was not something that happened on the spur of the moment. It has been building up for years. The years when Wasim and Waqar were vilified for ball tampering. The perception of unfairness when the same reverse swing was hailed as England's saviour when they won the Ashes last year, no questions asked. As it is coming out now, if it was England dressing room that prompted the umpires to look at the ball then thats double standards to say the least. The perception of biased (whether true or not is besides the point) umpiring from both umpires, especially Hair in the recent matches when Pakistan is involved. At some point this was going to break the camel's back, and it did at the Oval.
Umpiring is so much more than the rules of the game, as many columnists have rightly pointed out. You cannot be an officious prick and ignore everything else just because it says so in the rules book. Where is the tact, the diplomacy, the simple common sense?
Where are the rules governing incompetent umpiring? Any problems in that regard are supposedly dealt with behind closed doors, no sanctions ever come out in public. Four umpires in the England-Pak series in Pakistan gave Inzimam runout when he was evading the ball thrown by Harmison. This was not even a situation where they had to make a split second decision, it was referred to the third umpire, and in that time not one of the four umpires or the match referee realized that this was a wrong appeal. Absolutely, categorically against their precious rules of cricket, but was any of them reprimanded? Did they lose 50% or 100% of their match fees for glaring incompetence? No. This has to change.
You have the authority to accuse a team of cheating, making them liars and cheats in the public opinion without ANY avenue of appeals until after the match is done and dusted. Only after that you have a closed door meeting and things are decided. But by then even if the accused party comes out clean, it is TOO BLOODY LATE. They have already been branded cheats and this is contrary to all social laws. The rules of cricket deem you to be guilty until proven innocent, and that has to change.
No matter what comes out of the ICC in this regard on Friday, I would really like the Pakistan camp to listen to Imran Khan and take Hair to court. He set the precedent when he sued Botham and Lamb for libel and won in court. This needs to be done immediately. Rules of cricket be damned at this point, this goes much beyond cricket in my opinion. Inzimam and Pakistan can pay whatever bans and fines come their way for the forfeiture, but when they win in court (as they will) then maybe something will be done about the precious rules.
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