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Indians unwilling to split umpiring Hairs

Four days after the Indian team management put in a routine request to the Australian Cricket Board, seeking the names of officials deputed to stand in the Boxing Day Test and the one in Sydney to follow, the ACB stopped dithering and named Darrell Hair for the Millenium Test at the SCG.

Hair will have Ian Robinson for company, the Zimbabwean fulfilling the function of the neutral umpire from the ICC panel, while Simon Taufel, rated a brilliant young umpire and the youngest member of the Australian international panel, sits in the video chair.

Steve Davis will be the home umpire and David Shepherd of England the neutral umpire for the second Test, at the MCG beginning Boxing Day, while Bill Sheahan, a former Test umpire, will monitor the video replays.

There has been some soul-searching about the appointment of Hair, following his showdown with acting captain Saurav Ganguly during a tour game at the SCG, against the NSW Blues, when the umpire pulled up the entire Indian team for dissent. The team had shown a tendency to look at the video replays, and Hair on that occasion figured that to do so was in effect tantamount to questioning his authority.

Hair reportedly submitted a report to ACB CEO Malcolm Speed following the match. However, no action was initiated against the Indians, on the grounds that warm up games do not fall within the purview of the ICC and its code of conduct.

>Fears had been expressed in sections of the Australian media that the Indians might react negatively if and when Hair was appointed to stand in one of the two remaining Ansett Tests. The Indian management, however, clearly indicated over the last couple of days that they were not concerned with the identity of officials, and that they asked for the panel merely as part of the form.

"We are here to play cricket, not worry about who is doing the umpiring," coach Kapil Dev said, when Hair's name first came up in media questioning. Would the Indians lodge a protest if Hair was named to stand? "No" was the flat, unequivocal response.

Team manager Dr Mahender Bhargava was equally swift to defuse any potential explosion. "We have no intention of objecting, we merely asked for the names of officials, as we are required to do as per form," the manager said.