Arjuna is happy Hair is finally out

BRISBANE, Australia - Officials from the Asian subcontinent who led a move to dump Australian cricket umpire Darrell Hair from officiating at international matches made predictable statements Sunday on his demise.

''It's a victory for cricket,'' said Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf, while former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, claiming Hair was biased against Asian teams, said ''I am happy that he is finally out.''

In Australia, the sport's governing body said Hair would be welcome to continue his officiating career at domestic matches, as long at the International Cricket Council agreed.

On Saturday, the ICC board banned Hair, who has been under pressure since he accused Pakistan of ball tampering during a test against England at The Oval in August.

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq protested the five-run penalty his squad was handed, and refused to come on the field immediately after the tea break, despite being called by Hair. Hair awarded the match to England _ the first forfeit in 129 years of test cricket.

In Colombo, Ranatunga said Hair's removal was good for the future of cricket.

Ranatunga, now a Sri Lankan lawmaker, first confronted Hair in 1995 during a test against Australia in Melbourne. Hair had no-balled Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan seven times during the test, when Ranatunga led the side.

In protest, Ranatunga asked his team to stop the game, which later resumed after officials intervened.

''Hair had a prejudice against Asian teams. I am happy that he is finally out.'' Ranatunga said. ''The decision will do good to future cricket. He was a wrong man from the beginning to be in the cricket ground.''

Pakistan's Ashraf, who was at the Oval when the ball-tampering incident happened, insisted that Inzamam was willing to continue the game.

''Inzamam never refused to carry on with the game at the Oval, but was late for few minutes,'' Ashraf said. ''As things stand now, Hair was the real culprit.''

The PCB lodged a complaint against Hair to the ICC saying it wanted the Australian umpire to be banned from supervising international games.

''They readily accepted our complaint and discussed it,'' Ashraf said. ''After a long deliberation the ICC unanimously decided in our favor and it's a victory for cricket.''

Ashraf blamed Hair for The Oval fiasco, saying he was responsible for a ''blot on cricket.''

''It was all because of him that the match was forfeited and there was such a big loss to cricket,'' Ashraf said.

ICC president Percy Sonn said the board had ''lost confidence in Mr. Hair.''

''We won't appoint him to officiate in any international matches until the end of his contract,'' Sonn added.

In Sydney, Cricket Australia said Hair was ''one of the world's top umpires'' despite the axing.

''I hoped we could find a way for Darrell Hair to continue umpiring at the top level,'' said ICC chief Malcolm Speed. ''The board has resolved they don't want him to umpire international matches.''

Speed said he told fellow Australian Hair.

''He was very disappointed,'' Speed said. ''David Richardson the ICC general manager of cricket and myself will speak to Darrell in the next couple of days when he's had a chance to think about what this means for him.'' Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he supported Hair.

''He's obviously done lots of good things right over a long period of time,'' he said. ''I'm sure he'd be disappointed.''