By IANS,
Sydney : Controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair has admitted that he will be nervous when he makes his comeback to the Test arena for the second of England’s three-match series against New Zealand Friday night.
This will be the 55-year-old’s first appointment to the top level ever since the forfeited Test between Pakistan and England at The Oval in August 2006.
“I think the decision-making ability is still there, the only thing that could change that is a lack of confidence because I haven’t been out there,” Hair was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph Wednesday.
“Provided I get the right processes and triggers into place in my technique on a ball-by-ball basis, I’m confident I’ll be able to make the majority of correct decisions.
“If that turns out to be otherwise, then I’d probably need to look at if I am still capable of umpiring at an international level, but at the moment I feel confident in my abilities and the fact that I can do it,” he said.
Hair was dropped from the International Cricket Council (ICC) elite panel of umpires after declaring the first forfeit in 129 years of Test cricket.
Hair will also officiate in the third Test between England and New Zealand starting June 5.
Asked what he thought had changed during his spell away from the game at the highest level, Hair said the intensity of scrutiny over umpiring decisions and “a lack of understanding” as to the difficulty of the job.
“That’s not meant to be a criticism,” he said.
“The media have their own job to do and they have to report the game as it is and if mistakes are made, that’s fine.
“But I think people need to take into account more the difficulty of particular matches. Some matches are more difficult than others and there’s no doubt about that.”