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Still no confirmation about the status of the Oval Test

By Scott 2 years ago, mid-August Leave a comment on this post

There has still been no confirmation about whether or not the Fourth Test has been forfeited or not. Readers with tickets to day five are advised to check on the Surrey CCC website.

ECB Vice Chairman Mike Soper has once again hinted that he doesn’t think there will be play tomorrow. Meanwhile we learn that ICC HQ was thinking they were going to have tomorrow off.

It’s just been noted that the ICC office will be closed tomorrow. As the press release has it: “The day has been declared a holiday in Dubai to mark the Ascension of the Prophet (PBUH). The office will be open as normal on Sunday 20 August (8.30am - 5pm) and, after the day off, it will reopen at 8.30am on Tuesday 22 August.” Could this situation get much more farcical? Probably not…

ICC President Percy Sonn and CEO Malcolm Speed certainly will not be having a day off, I guess.

My own guess, and it is only a guess, is that we will have play tomorrow, as ICC puts pressure to avoid a Test ending via a forfeit, which would be unprecedented.

Aggers has put his column up. He has some sympathy for Pakistan’s plight, he doesn’t think that a ’sit-in’ was the appropriate way to protest. He does not address the ‘forfeit’ issue, which is fair enough. There’s enough for everyone to get their heads around as it is.

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2 Responses to “Still no confirmation about the status of the Oval Test”

  • respecttherules wrote:
    August 20th, 2006 at 9.05 pm

    Whether or not the two umpires made the wrong decision, that decision has to be final - otherwise it sets a precedent for teams in the future to blackmail umpires into submission. If Pakistan felt agrieved they should have appealed after the end of play - rules are rules.

    If umpire Hair felt that the ball have been tampered with and only complained after the end of play, England would have felt agrieved that the umpire had not acted on something that could unfairly disadvantage them. The ICC has to back the umpires’ decision to end the match if that is what the rules stated.

  • Teeth Maestro wrote:
    August 20th, 2006 at 9.31 pm

    The issue at hand is not a minor decision it is accusing a team of high crime, accusing a sporting team of cheating is a decision not to be taken lightly.

    Accusing anyone for the grave sin of murder and sentencing him to imprisonment without credible proof or even the hint of any evidence. Pakistan should be very serious about the accusations levelled agaisnt it.

    I also don’t think the ICC panel of judges were organized enough to solve this crisis in time, they remained in utter chaos to the end and it goes to show that ICC needs a serious overhaul especially get rid of the highly controversial Darrell Hair, he has a knack of making decisions against the crickets of the sub-continent.


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