DARRELL HAIR was advised by Billy Doctrove, his fellow umpire, to delay penalising Pakistan to enable them to ascertain which bowler or fielder was tampering with the ball, it has emerged. His suggestion was not carried out, resulting in the entire team being affronted and in due course refusing to return to the field.

Trevor Jesty and Peter Hartley, the third and television replay umpires respectively, sided with Hair and Mike Procter, the match referee and former Test match bowler, felt that there were “suspicious” marks on the ball. Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, disagreed when he examined it.

“I felt it was in quite good condition,” Woolmer said yesterday. “There were no signs that it had been tampered with. Some of the indentation marks could easily have come from hitting Kevin Pietersen’s grille and from the amount of turn into the rough Danish Kaneria was imparting. One good thing to come out of this is that, in future, an umpire concerned about ball-tampering will take it up with the captain first.

“To a man, the Pakistan players swore on oath that they were not guilty. If I saw anyone tampering with the ball, my reaction would be one of annoyance. What I would encourage is that bowlers should hit the pitch with the rough side of the ball to assist reverse swing. The umpires have two options. One is to police the game better and the other is not to bother.

“I think it would be insensitive for Darrell Hair to umpire Pakistan again in the near future, but he should continue as an international umpire.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, whose ban means that he will not play in the ICC Champions Trophy in India, will not appeal. He did not spot the five-run penalty while on the field and, when back in the dressing-room, was one of 11 players, supported by Waqar Younis, the bowling coach, who did not want to return to the middle. Woolmer withdrew his idea of a five-minute sitdown protest on the pitch, remaining fully supportive of his side not playing on.

Woolmer advocates a change to Law 42.3, which does not allow for a warning to be given. “For an umpire to be judge and jury and pass sentence clearly is not correct, as this case has proven,” he said.

There was an element of levity in the hearing. Geoff Boycott, the former England batsman, caused a similar stir to when he gave evidence in the case of Ian Botham and Allan Lamb brought against Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, in the High Court in 1996. “I don’t want you bloody lawyers putting words into my mouth — I know your tricks,” he said. “I’ll tell you about cricket. Umpiring is not about sticking to the letter of the law, it’s about people.”