Hair offered to quit for $500,000

Cricket: The controversy that has rocked international cricket took a sensational twist last night after it emerged that Darrell Hair, the umpire who accused the Pakistan national cricket team of cheating, had offered to quit in return for a payment of $500,000.

The revelation that the Australian proposed walking away from the game in return for a secret deposit into his bank account has strengthened Pakistan's view that Hair was biased against them in the decisions that led to their forfeiture of the Fourth Test against England at the Oval.

The sport was plunged into the worst crisis in its history after Hair awarded five penalty runs against Pakistan for ball-tampering on Sunday afternoon. The touring side, who have complained in the past about Hair's decisions and attitude towards them, refused to return to the field after the tea break in protest.

When Pakistan finally emerged from their dressingroom to continue, the umpires refused to come out, ruling they had already awarded the match to England.

Yesterday, the ICC revealed details of emails sent by Hair to the ICC's manager of umpires on Tuesday, offering a "one-off, non-negotiable" way out of the crisis.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, told a press conference : "Darrell Hair was under great stress when he wrote these letters and I am confident that Darrell Hair had no dishonest, underhand or malicious intent. He was seeking to find a solution in the interests of the game."

Speed said: "When I received the letter, it is fair to say I was extremely surprised by the content and concerned as to how I should deal with it."

Last night there was speculation that Hair's offer, which he said he had revoked two days later after serious consideration, would lead to not-guilty verdicts against the Pakistan captain.

The ICC's executive board will meet in Dubai next Saturday to review developments, with the Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq's hearing not due until mid-September.

Speed said the game's ruling body would take legal advice on the crucial question of whether it can overrule Hair's decision to penalise Pakistan.

The issue will also be discussed at a meeting of the chairmen of the 10 full-member nations of the ICC in Dubai a week today (September 2nd), opening up the possibility that Inzamam may yet have the two charges hanging over him, for ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute, dropped.

The Pakistan camp last night were expressing confidence that Speed's revelation meant they would have a better chance of overturning the allegations of ball-tampering that have threatened to bring a premature end to their tour.

Almost forgotten amid the chaos last night was the fact that Pakistan's tour will continue. On Monday they play a Twenty20 international in Bristol and will then fulfil the five one-day internationals.