Credit: ICC
On August 20, 2006, Pakistan forfeited the fourth and final Test match against England at The Oval. Winning the toss, Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq elected to field first. In the first innings, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul bowled superbly and took four wickets respectively to bundle out the hosts on 173. Shahid Nazir and Danish Kaneria also got one wicket each. Alastair Cook was the most effective batter for the English side as he scored 40 off 69 while Andrew Strauss and Chris Read also scored 40 and 38 apiece respectively.
Following the low total, Pakistan posted a massive total of 504 and took a 331-run lead. Mohammad Yousuf amassed 128 (236) while Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat also chipped in with their 95 (178) and 91 (112) respectively. Middle-order batter Faisal Iqbal also scored an unbeaten 58 off 90. In the second innings, England lost their opener Marcus Trescothick early but stand-in skipper Andrew Strauss smashed a 54 (83). Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen stitched a 103-run stand for the third wicket and helped the home side make a comeback in the contest. Cook and Pietersen got dismissed after racking up 83 and 96 apiece.
With England heading towards 300, on-field umpires Darell Hair and Billy Doctrove inspected the ball and came up with the conclusion that it was tampered. The umpires didn’t discuss the matter with Pakistan and awarded five penalty runs to England to punish the visiting team. The incident irked the Inzamam-led side as they refused to come out on the field to play after tea.
Umpires called off the game and handed victory to England
With Pakistan not showing intentions of returning to the field, the umpires announced England the winner of the match after the end of the fourth day. It was the first incident in cricketing history when a team were penalized five runs on the suspicion of ball tampering, and also a match was forfeited by a side.
In November 2006, the International Cricket Council (ICC) held a press conference and announced a ban on Hair from officiating in international matches, following a two-day meeting held by cricket’s apex-body. After a year of the incident, Hair accused Asian teams of racism. He also alleged ICC of surrendering in front of Asian sides’ hegemony.
