Former match referee says ball is enough

Lack of video evidence not a concern - Reid

Cricinfo staff

August 28, 2006

John Reid: "It's going to be very difficult for Darrell Hair from now on" © Cricinfo Ltd

John Reid, the New Zealand Cricket president, believes a lack of video evidence will not harm the allegations of ball-tampering against Pakistan. Reid, speaking to The Australian in his capacity as a match referee from 1993 to 2002, said there were "quite a number of occasions" during his career as an official that there were concerns over the tactics of Pakistan's bowlers.

In 2000 Reid fined and suspended Waqar Younis for a game for tampering and was called "racist and biased". "It's obvious he was in the wrong but the umpire or referee gets the blame," he said.

Reid said in the current case the only evidence Hair needed to prove the allegation was the ball. "Everyone is saying there is no video on this," Reid said. "You don't need video evidence. You've got the ball ... They would have had the ball at the meeting [when the charges were laid]. They wouldn't do that unless the ball showed a lot of evidence of ball tampering."

Reid told the paper Hair had "done a good job" but had gone "one step too far" with his request for a payout of $US500,000. "It's going to be very difficult for Darrell Hair from now on I would imagine," he said. "He's a well respected umpire. OK, he's a tough old bloke but you've got to be a tough old bloke every so often."

Reid said Imran Khan, who last week labelled Hair a "mini-Hitler", was one of the pioneers of tampering. "He wrote a book about it," he said. "Have a look at the book. There was a chapter in there saying how to do it. It's a joke, I'm afraid."

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