Operation Graduation

Australia v Sri Lanka, December 1995
In his most infamous moment before The Oval, Hair called Muttiah Muralitharan for an illegal action seven times during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. Murali was brought on from the other end but was not called by Steve Dunne. At the tea interval on the second day, Hair told the Sri Lankans that he was prepared to call Murali from the striker’s end. Wisden reported: “unusually, he made his judgement from the bowler’s end, and several minutes passed before the crowd realised that Muralitharan’s elbow, rather than his foot, was at fault”.

While Hair received scathing criticism in Sri Lanka, in Australia the reactions were mixed. However, Don Bradman was quoted as saying it was “the worst example of umpiring that [he had] witnessed, and against everything the game stands for.” After discussions between the Australian Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, Hair umpired no further games involving Sri Lanka in the season and he did not umpire another Test involving Sri Lanka until their tour of the West Indies in 2003.

November 1998
Hair claimed in his autobiography, Decision Maker, that Murali’s action was ‘diabolical’ and that he would call him again if it had not improved. Hair’s remarks prompted the Sri Lanka board to ask the ICC to suspend the umpire for bringing the game into disrepute. Hair then threatened to sue the president of the Sri Lankan board for allegedly accusing him of bias.

Zimbabwe v New Zealand, September 2000

New Zealand were chasing 132 for victory on the fifth and final day of the match when Hair, officiating from square leg, no-balled Grant Flower three times in his second over.

August 2003
Steve Dunne, the New Zealand umpire who stood with Hair at Melbourne in 1995, spilled the beans about his silence during the Murali throwing controversy. In his book, Alone in the Middle: An Umpire’s Story, Dunne wrote: “There were many thoughts going through my mind. What do I do? Do I support Darrell Hair because he has called Muralitharan and do I call him as well? Or do I support what I believe, which was what we had discussed and decided at a conference in Coventry earlier this year?” That conference had decided in the case of a suspect action that the matter would be reported to the match referee who would have the action filmed and sent to the International Cricket Council.

Pakistan v South Africa, October 2003

Shaun Pollock was reported by Hair for showing dissent, and subsequently fined 100% of his match fee, after questioning the judgement of the umpire during the third ODI between Pakistan and South Africa at Faisalabad.

New Zealand v Pakistan, January 2004
Hair and fellow umpire Billy Bowden reported Shabbir Ahmed, the Pakistan fast bowler, for a suspect bowling action. The report was made after reviewing footage of Shabbir’s action taken during the fifth and final ODI between New Zealand and Pakistan at Wellington.

November 2004
Hair tells the ICC that he does not want to officiate in matches in Zimbabwe again.

England v Pakistan, June 2006

Hair struck again, and how. The Oval became the scene of the first such forfeiture in 129 years of Test cricket as Pakistan refused to take the field following Hair’s accusation of ball-tampering. Between lunch and tea on the fourth day, and following Alastair Cook’s lbw dismissal to a delivery that showed a fair amount of reverse swing, Hair was seen intently looking at Mohammad Asif rub the ball against his trousers at mid-on. At the end of the 56th over, bowled by Danish Kaneria, Hair went over to Billy Doctrove and was seen pointing at the quarter seam. The fourth umpire, Trevor Jesty, then brought out a box of balls and the England batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, were allowed to choose the next one to be used, in accordance with the laws.