Cricket : Fiasco at the Oval

[Cort Haus]

I'm wondering whether Hair was drunk when he wrote that offer.

[Terra Nullius]

What the ?!!

How dare you suggest that a respected Australian official would conduct his business while sober. I resent that!!

The part that has me gob-smacked is: wtf was Malcolm Speed thinking in going public - and handing out photocopies of the letter to the media?

According to Speed, the letter was "entirely inappropriate" but Hair "had no dishonest, underhand or malice intent — he was seeking to find a solution in the interests of the game." So what could possibly be gained in playing it to the circus? To my mind, the ICC's action only undermines the authority of the officials.

The Pakis are howling blue murder and claiming Hair is biased against South Asians (cf. Murali). OK, so they need to save face back home. But when the ICC undercuts an official like this they only legitimate Pakistan's tantrum and make the whole ICC look incompetent.

[Cort Haus]

Speed basically said that they would have been obliged to disclose it to the PCB, who would have leaked it anyway.

We now have a three-layered spectacle :

1. Tampergate
2. Tantrumgate
3. Payoffgate

The 20/20 match tomorrow should be interesting.