I think Occasional Fan is right here, Hair must've realised he was on a losing side...

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Frank Skinner: "You know when Glenn McGrath trod on that cricket ball? Don't you wish it would've been a landmine?"

It is too soon for an outright verdict either way. Considering that Hair wanted money in the first place, I think a quiet OOC settlement "in the interests of the game" is likely; or, someone has made a substantial offer for sole book rights or something.

I'm not too convinced about that, most of the evidence so far made the ICC look poor. From the statements issued so far it looks like a deal has been done to get Hair his "old" job back. Both the ICC and Hair have said things to such effect.

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Mark.

So would Pakistan be prepared to play in a match with the rehabilitated Hair as an umpire?

I don't think any of the non-white teams would. And Hair cannot officiate in matches involving Aus - so that leaves England v New Zealand.

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A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes
Mark Twain

No doubt they'd complain about it (as would India i guess).

Then the ICC would get themselves into another mess.........

Edit: M how would the Asian teams feel (hypothetically) if say, Hair umpired a game between India v Pakistan?? Surely there could be no claims of bias then

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Mark.

Can they guarantee his safety if he was umpiring in the sub continent though.

Good point; no, there definitely won't be a perception of bias, but as his reputation as an umpire is pretty low, both teams may feel that he would be "out to get them". I think he will be safer there than he is at his home in England, given that international umpires/cricketers are given extensive security in India and Pakistan.

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A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes
Mark Twain

Even if you did a re-vote on Hair in or out today, the majority of its members would probably still vote against him. But alright, if some of these other nations would prefer to live in oblivion to realities so important it is to them to appease their fallacies of self righteousness about the man Hair and the myth about him being a supposedly "good" umpire, then sure, go ahead. Have him on the elite panel and have him umpire matches between NZ, England and Australia, you can even take out the neutral umpire only rule if you're so in love with him. Over time, when he stands regularly in matches involving England, Australia and New Zealand (like he stood regularly in matches involving Pakistan, West Indies, India, and so on) the true extent of his competence will dawn on everyone (and crucially his sympathizers in England, NZ and Australia) and then we'll see who wants to have him on the elite panel. But keep him as far away from Pakistan as possible.

Pie Chucker,

Allow me to answer too. You see, Pakistan's problem with Hair, fair and foremost is that Pakistan thinks he's a bad umpire. So far nothing to do with claims of bias. Now secondarily, you may extend that and say that some people in Pakistan think that one of the reasons why he's a bad umpire is because he's biased. So it doesn't matter who we're playing against, we just generally feel that's he's not good enough an empire. Another popularly accepted reason for him being a bad umpire includes his arrogance. So yes, I'd have an objection to Hair standing in a match between Pakistan and India or Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistan and America or Pakistan and The Democratic Republic of Congo, any country in the world so to speak. Because I don't think he's a competent umpire. Hoped that simplifies it for you.

Thought I'd add in an after thought; it was being discussed why Hair may have pulled out of this case. My own take is that is Hair realized that he could damage the ICC's reputation, prove that he was sacked despite on paper ( ) being a "good" umpire, prove that he was sacked because of the votes from the Asian block, but in no way prove that any of the above was motivated by race. He went in looking for money, but when he realized he wasn't going to get any, he thought it wiser to cut short what must have been pretty lengthy bills from his lawyers. Money, money, money. All about money. It can make you feel "racially discriminated" against one day, but the very next day, when you realise there are no bucks to be made, all the racial discrimination you were feeling can vanish in thin air. And of course, as Hair sympathizers would tell me, this too, once again, does absolutely nothing at all to Darrel "I can do no wrong" Hair's credibility. He's Mr. Darrel "I can do no wrong" Hair after all. Nothing he does or say (not even trying to black mail his employees) can ever harm his status quo as one of the world's most competent umpires. How cute.

I'm sorry darkside, but could you explain the term "rehabilitated" to me, I've read that in the reports coming out today too but I can't seem to understand what they'd mean in context of how it would improve his umpiring skills (in particular what they'd do about his paranoia about giving people out Lbw when they're not, or turning down perfectly valid leg before appeals from spinners or warning some spinners for stepping on to the danger area when they're actually landing a good feet outside the area in their follow through?). Would this "rehabilitation" involve radical brain change surgery too (which who knows, might, just might reduce the size of his ego, fat chance I know but still...)? I'm genuniely curious about what exactly this rehabilitation would involve, so please do enlighten me.