Inevitably, the umpiring career of Darrell Hair is crumbling faster than an overcooked shortbread biscuit.

I have little (but some) sympathy for Hair, who has eventually been the victim of his own bloodymindedness. Equally though his fate is a consequence not just of his own actions but of the tactics of the more politically astute Pakistani’s.

But what now for the rules, laws and ’spirit’ of the game, particularly as they relate to umpire authority.

Do they need a tweak, or an overhaul even?

This was asked frequently at the height of Ovalgate, and yet this issue seems now to have taken a back seat thanks largely to the distance the ICC put between the event, the hearing, and the subsequent announcements about Hair’s umpiring future. They diluted the fervor effectively.

The only good that could have come from this shambles, would have been to provide some impetus for the role of umpires to be freshly analysed. That seems now unlikely to happen and for me that is a lost opportunity.

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