ICC withdraws Rauf from Champions Trophy

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-champions-trophy-2013/content/current/story/637367.html

"Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf has been withdrawn by the ICC from officiating in the upcoming Champions Trophy in England following media reports that indicated he was under investigation by Mumbai Police."

Well thank God the good old ICC have thoroughly investigated and established the facts before taking action!

He loves the country. From boffing bollywood wannabes to getting investigated by the police.

So effectively he's being suspended from his job based on unconfirmed media reports that don't even specify what he's being investigated for?

He should sue.

if he doesnt, it would be saying a lot

not sure he can sue them anyway. icc umpires are not in a 9 to 5 job. its up to the icc to pick and assign umps for every match. depends on the details of the contract i guess

Spot fixing according to the media.

Which would make the withdrawal fair enough. It is only a suspension pending the outcome.

Henry wrote:

He should sue.

In a civil trivial don't you have to prove your case on the balance of probability (rather than beyond reasonably doubt)? All the ICC would have to do is get up and say "he is pakistani"

How do you pronounce his name ?

I always say it like Acid Rowf ...

but ABC radio this morning pronounced it like Arr Sard Ray oof

A- as in the u of udder
Sa- like sud
D- like the th part in the

Rauf- much like a questionable call from an amorous shemale.

Though Arse ad Rauf makes more sense for him.

And now dropped from the elite panel. Bowden gone too. Two less arseclowns.

Illingworth and Reiffel replacing them.

tricycle wrote:And now dropped from the elite panel. Bowden gone too. Two less arseclowns.

Illingworth and Reiffel replacing them.

Davis, Tucker and Oxenford hanging on though.

Reckon Tucker, especially, got lucky with Rauf and fixing.

So, a 12 man panel with 4 English and 4 Australian umpires, that's ridiculous. Only 4 umpires (Dar, Hill, Erasmus and Dharmasena) therefore eligible for Ashes Tests, they're going to have a ridiculous workload considering England and Australia play more Test cricket than anyone else anyway.

I know they have to try and maintain standards but surely no more than two per country should be the rule?

beamer wrote:So, a 12 man panel with 4 English and 4 Australian umpires, that's ridiculous. Only 4 umpires (Dar, Hill, Erasmus and Dharmasena) therefore eligible for Ashes Tests, they're going to have a ridiculous workload considering England and Australia play more Test cricket than anyone else anyway.

I know they have to try and maintain standards but surely no more than two per country should be the rule?

The 3rd umpire has to elite doesn't he?

Not sure... in that case they need 3 of those 4 for every match! And what do the English and Aussie ones do while they're playing each other and the rest of the world is playing pretty much bugger all Test cricket?

Not sure they really thought this through given the timing.

In series which have DRS, the third umpire has to be from the Elite panel.

So basically any not involving India, and there's no Indian umpire on the panel anyway.

Are standards around the world so poor that they can't look far beyond England and Australia, and will this mean the necessary reintroduction of home umpires soon for matches involving those countries?

We've got few good umpires now (says a bit if Tarapore's one of the leading umpires). 

Even if only by standards, surely someone around the world has to be good enough to replace Tucker.

And if Aleem Dar is kept out of the Ashes following the ball-tampering controversy that leaves only three... what odds an Ashes Test cancelled due to having nobody qualified to officiate it? Wouldn't put it past the ICC!

Gee hope not. That would be a a proper dummy spit, wouldn't it? There weren't any docked runs and the inference came largely down to the media. If any report was made to the ICC, then that's fair procedure, no?

Gadzooks! He won't be kept from the Ashes - we aren't India - we don't pick and choose the umpires.

Who wasn't chosen by India?

Well, they stood him down for the final. Unless that was India's choice...

Anyway, how come India with all their influence don't have an umpire on the panel? Is it just that they want a full complement of 12 to choose from when they play a Test?

Rudi Bucknor, or Steve Koertzen or something.

Fair enough about Bucknor, though he lost control of the match (and the churlish players lost control too) in Sydney. Not so much Koertzen. Heck, the board even called him to umpire in the IPL.