HOLDING ON TO PRINCIPLES

So, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have decided to change the result of the Test match between England and Pakistan at the Oval in 2006. England didn`t win it after all. It was a draw, say the ICC.

In a way, it was a pretty pointless game. England had already won the series, which might account for their disappointing display until tea on that `interesting` day, Pakistan having been 331 runs ahead on the first innings and England had, by tea, lost four wickets and were staring down the barrel of defeat.

A little earlier in the afternoon, Umpire Darell Hair had a feeling that Pakistan might just have been fiddling with the ball a bit. Ball tampering is, of course, a cardinal sin in any walk of life but especially so in the vibrant atmosphere of a cricket match. Pakistan were less than impressed at the allegation and seemed to refuse to come out to play after tea, having had a good moan during the interval. Whereupon Umpire Hair had had enough, took off the bails, declared that Pakistan had forfeited the game, which was awarded to England who had, it must be said, wisely kept their heads down.

To tamper or not to tamper, that was the question

Fast forward to the recent ICC meeting in Dubai, when they decided to change that result. No real reason has been given, their statement `simply` reading, "The board decided the result of the match should be altered. The change is from an England win as a result of Pakistan's refusal to play to the match being termed abandoned as a draw. The board's decision is based on the view that in light of the unique set of circumstances the original result was felt to be inappropriate." So that`s alright then.

The only salvation to emerge from this bewildering episode is that former West Indian fast bowler Michael ("Whispering Death") Holding (pictured above right) has resigned his seat on the ICC in protest. He said, "I have just written my letter of resignation to the ICC cricket committee because I cannot agree with what they've done. That game should never, ever be a draw. When you take certain actions, you must be quite happy to suffer the consequences. A lot of things are happening today that I don't want to be involved with, so I've moved on."

The `certain actions` Holding was referring to were not in regard to the ball tampering allegations, of which Pakistan were subsequently cleared, but against their refusal to take the field of play. So, well done Whispering. Pity there were not more like him on the ICC committee and even greater pity that they didn`t have the backbone to give clear reasons for their strange decision. Mind you, if Whispering was coming in at me from the pavillion end, I might just chicken out too. It sure ain`t cricket though.