Darell Hair:-
The big man from Australia, was renowned for being too harsh particularly against the Asian nations. Some of the incidents:-
- In a 1995 match between Australia and Sri lanka in Melbourne, he no-balled Muttiah Murlidharan seven times in three overs for throwing. It was the first time Muralitharan had been called in 22 Tests, although the ICC later said that umpires had expressed doubts about his legitimacy for more than two years. In 1999 Hair was found guilty by the ICC of bringing the game into disrepute after he described Muralitharan's action as "diabolical". Hair later received death threats that referenced the throwing incident and as a result the ICC decreed that he would not officiate any of Sri Lankas matches at the 1999 World Cup.
After his retirement he remarked Sydney Morning Herald:
"I said it in the late '90s that if something wasn't done about it you'd have a generation of chuckers on your hands. They try to emulate Harbhajan Singh, Saqlain Mushtaq and Muralitharan and that's the problem."
On which Harbhajan replied:
"This is too much. Hair is crossing the limits and seems to have gone mad. We were always within the permissible limit. Murali and I were cleared by the ICC more than once. Why didn't Hair object to my bowling then?"
- On the fourth day of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval, Hair and fellow umpire Billy Doctrove ruled that the Pakistani team had been involved in ball tempering. They awarded five penalty runs to England and offered them a replacement ball. In protest the Pakistani players refused to take the field after the tea break. After 30 minutes the umpires removed the bails, declared England winners by forfeiture. The Pakistani team took the field 25 minutes later, but the umpires stated that the game had ended the moment the bails were removed. The Test was abandoned and the match awarded to England. Inzamam was acquitted of ball tampering,malthough opinion remained divided as to whether the markings on the ball indicated tampering.
After the ensuing controversy Hair wrote an e-mail to the ICC saying that he would resign from the ICC Elite Umpire Panel in return for a non-negotiable one-off payment of US$500,000 directly into his bank account to cover loss of future earnings. Hair subsequently revoked the offer said that he never considered retirement. The ICC announced that Hair would not be umpiring at the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy due to security concerns and on 4 November 2006, Hair was banned from officiating in international matches by the ICC following a two-day meeting.
There are numerous other incidents when Darell rose the countroversies, but these two are most famous in cricket history.