Inzamam hearing on again

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will face a disciplinary hearing next month after the International Cricket Council decided against over-ruling the umpires involved in the ball-tampering saga.

Inzamam's supporters had hoped the two charges of breaching the code of conduct during the controversial end to the fourth Test against England last week would be quashed at an emergency meeting of the ICC's executive board in Dubai on Saturday.

But the decision to cancel the meeting ended that possibility and now Inzamam must wait to discover a new date for the hearing when he will face a charge, as captain, of altering the state of the ball during the final Test and bringing the game into disrepute.

"Last week, I felt it necessary to call a meeting of the board of directors to brief them on the end to the Test match at The Oval and subsequent events," explained ICC president Percy Sonn.

"However, having had the chance to contact the directors and seeing they have an understanding of the situation, I have decided this course of action is not necessary so I have decided to cancel the meeting.

"I sent each director a note last Friday and will telephone each of them over the next couple of days to further explain what has happened over the past week and ensure they understand the process from here onwards."

The cancellation leaves the future of Australian umpire Darrell Hair back in the balance after his emailed demand of 500,000 US dollars to step down appeared to have signalled the end of his career.

Hair's conduct and the way he has disputed the ICC's version of events over his emails was due to be discussed at Saturday's meeting.

The cancellation, though, signals the ICC's intention to go ahead with Inzamam's disciplinary hearing as soon as senior match referee Ranjan Madugalle is available again after he was unable to attend on the original date for personal reasons.