page_title: 2006 ball-tampering controversy
hierarchical_section_title: 2006 ball-tampering controversy
caption_attribution_description: The controversial Test between England and Pakistan at the Oval in August 2006.
context_page_description: In 2006, during the fourth day of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove ruled that the Pakistani team had been involved in ball tampering. The Pakistani players refused to take the field after the tea break in protest of the decision. After waiting two more minutes the umpires removed the bails and declared England winners by forfeiture. This was the first such end to a Test match in over 1000 Tests.
  The International Cricket Council, England and Wales Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board later affirmed that the decision to award the match to England was in accordance with the Laws of Cricket. After the game, an email was leaked showing that Hair had offered his resignation from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel in return for a non-negotiable one-off payment of US$500,000. Hair said that the ICC had been in negotiations with him prior to the incident.
  The ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle later acquitted Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq of a ball-tampering charge, but banned him for four one day internationals for bringing the game into disrepute.
context_section_description: In 2006, during the fourth day of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove ruled that the Pakistani team had been involved in ball tampering. The Pakistani players refused to take the field after the tea break in protest of the decision. After waiting two more minutes the umpires removed the bails and declared England winners by forfeiture. This was the first such end to a Test match in over 1000 Tests.
  The International Cricket Council (ICC), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later affirmed that the decision to award the match to England was in accordance with the Laws of Cricket. After the game, an email was leaked showing that Hair had offered his resignation from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel in return for a non-negotiable one-off payment of US$500,000. Hair said that the ICC had been in negotiations with him prior to the incident.
  The ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle later acquitted Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq of a ball-tampering charge, but banned him for four one day internationals for bringing the game into disrepute. After the hearing the ICC announced that Hair would not be umpiring at the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy because of security concerns. Hair was later banned from officiating in international matches by the ICC: they stated that although Hair had been banned from Tests, there is "no issue" with the result of the Oval Test match. In the aftermath of the Oval incident, Hair was voted Umpire of the Season in a poll carried out by The Wisden Cricketer, with more than a third of the votes. A leaked ICC report showed that immediately before the Oval incident, Hair was ranked the second-best umpire in the world overall behind Simon Taufel and number one in terms of decision-making statistics.
  In 2007 Hair announced he was suing the ICC and PCB on grounds of racial discrimination, alleging that he was made a scapegoat when he was barred from officiating Test matches after the Oval Test, as no action was taken against his fellow umpire Billy Doctrove. He later dropped the discrimination case. The ICC restored Hair to the Elite Umpiring Panel in 2008 but he resigned five months later, having officiated in only two further Tests.
caption: England batting on the first day of the Test
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