Hair to steer clear of matches involving Pakistan

In a move that will cause more consternation following the umpire's reinstatement, ICC general manager Dave Richardson said: "We would have to take a sensible approach.

"We will probably keep him away from Pakistan matches where we can."

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Hair has not officiated in a major match since the infamous Oval Test in 2006, when Pakistan refused to continue after being accused of ball-tampering.

Hair, 55, was dropped from the ICC's elite panel when the allegations against captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his team were dismissed and subsequently began a racial discrimination claim against cricket's governing body.

But he later dropped the case and has since been on an ICC rehabilitation programme.

Oddly, after saying the ICC would keep Hair away from Pakistan, Richardson added: "It's pointless having an umpire on the elite panel who is excluded from umpiring certain teams.

"There are always going to be stages in an umpire's career when he is not flavour of the month, but he will come up against an Asian team at some stage."

He also admitted "a lot of people might be angry" that Hair was back on the international rota.

"Darrell Hair over time seems to polarise opinion, but a lot of his supporters will feel it is justified to bring him back and that he was unjustly kept on the sidelines."

Key matches involving Pakistan, however, will not be on Hair's immediate agenda.

Richardson said: "We don't want to put umpires in an almost impossible position where any mistake they might make would be under such scrutiny that the pressure becomes impossible."

Inzamam, now retired from Tests, said Hair's re-emergence had "come as a shocker".

He added: "What more proof did they require that Hair was not fit to stand in international matches?

"After the Oval Test, it was clear Hair should not supervise international matches. Why that has changed is surprising to me."