Hair's career thrown into jeopardy

The umpire was withdrawn from a county match by ECB in the aftermath of ball-tampering furore.

Darrell Hair's umpiring career in county cricket was thrown into jeopardy on Tuesday after being withdrawn from a local fixture as the Oval fiasco took a new turn with the controversial Australian apologising to his supporters for his "ill-advised" e-mail.

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Hair was to officiate at Chesterfield in a second XI match between Derbyshire and Gloucestershire, but has been stood down by the England Cricket Board in the aftermath of the ball-tampering furore which resulted in the first ever forfeiture in the history of Test cricket.

The burly Australian has been on the ECB's reserve umpires' list since moving to live in England three years ago and he has been hoping to start umpiring at first-class county level next season.

After his war of words with the ICC in the past three days, Hair has apologised to his friends and supporters for letting them down by sending an "ill-advised" e-mail offering conditional resignation to the game's governing body.

Hair, while standing his ground on the pay-off issue with the ICC, felt sorry for the fact that he allowed others to question his motives.

"I wish to apologise to all my family, friends and supporters, because I somehow feel that I may have let them down, simply by sending an ill-advised but entirely confidential e-mail," Hair was quoted as saying by 'Cricinfo'.

"That has given other people the opportunity to question my motives," he added.