Umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove awarded the match to England as a forfeited result after Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul Haq refused to take the field on the fourth day, following allegations of ball tampering against the team. It was the first time in the history of Test cricket that a match was forfeited.
The cricket committee of the ICC would be considering Pakistan’s request which had the support of the England and Wales cricket board, a board official told reporters today.
“The matter has been discussed in the Executive Board and now it has been referred to the cricket committee which will discuss it at its next meeting in Dubai,” the official said. He said last year Pakistan had asked the ICC to reverse the result of the Test from a win for England to a drawn or abandoned match.
The Oval controversy created much rage with Pakistan squarely blaming Australian umpire Darrell Hair for the fiasco and asking the ICC to ban him from officiating in international matches.
The outcome of the match had far reaching repercussions as the ICC chief referee Ranjan Madugalle cleared Pakistan of the ball tampering charges and Hair was also suspended from the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires.
Inzamam demanded that the PCB should put pressure on ICC to change the Oval Test result.
“First of all we never said we didn't want to carry on playing the Test. Hair decided to award the game to England. Secondly what is comical is that once the ball tampering charges, which caused all the controversy, were dropped by the ICC than how can the result remain the same?” Inzamam asked.