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Holding resigns over ICC result change

Cricket officials who hoped this week might end with one sort of resignation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) had to cope with another, as Michael Holding quit its cricket committee.

The West Indies great stepped down in protest at the ICC’s decision, taken at its board meeting in Dubai, to change the result of the 2006 Oval Test from an England win over Pakistan to a draw.

Pakistan were originally ruled to have forfeited the match, something never before seen in a Test, following their refusal to take the field after tea on the fourth day having previously been penalized five runs for ball-tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove.

A subsequent hearing cleared Pakistan of ball-tampering and, on Thursday, the ICC took the extraordinary step of altering the match result.

Former fast bowler Holding, while accepting Pakistan were not guilty of ball-tampering, said their refusal to play should not go unpunished.

“When you take certain actions, you must be quite happy to suffer the consequences,” he said while commentating for Sky Sports on Friday during Kent’s semi-final win over Durham in English cricket’s domestic 50-over event.

“That game should never, ever be a draw,” Holding said. “I have just written my letter of resignation to the ICC cricket committee because I cannot agree with what they’ve done. A lot of things that are happening today I don’t want to be involved with, so I’ve moved on.”

Holding’s announcement set the seal on a turbulent week for the ICC that saw England and South Africa pushing for the suspension of strife-torn Zimbabwe from world cricket.

But the Asian bloc — led by the game’s commercial powerhouse India — opposed the move.

Instead a compromise was reached that saw Zimbabwe pull out of next year’s World Twenty20 in England.

That move came after the British government had made it clear it would not issue visas to Zimbabwean cricketers, thereby effectively canceling their scheduled tour of England next year.

Had Zimbabwe insisted on its right to participate, the lucrative tournament could have been moved elsewhere, although that in turn could have led to a boycott by England and other leading nations.
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