Darrell Hair, the umpire at the centre of the controversy that led to the abandonment of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan, has claimed that meddling board officials were to blame for the escalation of the row, and that the Pakistan team themselves had been ready to accept his decision to dock them five penalty runs for ball-tampering.

Darrell Hair blames politics for Oval row | Cricket News | England v Pakistan 2010 | Cricinfo.com