Wisden points its finger to Hair

By John Cheeran
You may not like it but Darrel Hair was selected as the umpire of the season by the Wisden Cricketer Magazine.
Hair received more than a third of all votes (34%) in the magazine's annual poll. One reader referred to him as "the only one with courage" and Hair also received votes in the Performance of the Season category with citations such as "ensuring the umpire's decision is final" and "finally exposing the cheats".
"I suppose it is a bit of a shock," Hair told the magazine. "But if free-thinking people want to vote that way and they do believe I've done the job as well as anybody or even better I can accept that fact. It's a great vote of confidence."
Most of the Wisden readers are British and they should have no problems in supporting Hair, the Aussie, despite the rivalry for Ashes.
It is no secret that Pakistanis and Sri Lankans nurse antipathy towards the Australian umpire because Hair had the guts to call Muttaih Muralitharan and Shoaib Akhtar for their illegitimate bowling actions. Hair again stood his ground during the Oval Test against Pakistan and showed rare courage to book the perennial cheaters Pakistan.
It is a pity that the voting power of Asian nations ensured that Hair will not officiate in Tests any longer.
A classic case of giving the dog a bad name and hanging him.

(Note:) Umpire of the Year 1 Darrell Hair (Aus) 34% ; 2 Simon Taufel (Aus) 16%, 3 Billy Bowden (NZ) 10%, 4 Steve Bucknor (WI) 7%, 5 Aleem Dar (Pak) 5%