Hair wants to improve his communication skills

Sydney, Mar 20 (UNI) Controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who was reinstated by the ICC earlier this week, today said he wants to communicate better with the players when he returns to the international scene after an absence of nearly 18 months.

''I've always been a little bit ... standoffish in that I've always preferred to let them play the game themselves and only get involved when things go overboard,'' Hair told Sydney radio 2KY.

Hair had been banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) since November 2006 after accusing Pakistan of ball tampering during the Oval Test against England that led to the first forfeit in the 129-year history of Test cricket.

The 55-year-old, however, refused to dwell on the past and said it is time to ''move on''.

''Well it caused me a lot of stress, I suppose it caused a lot of people some stress along the way,'' he said . ''The laws now have been changed to take those decisions out of the hands of the umpires and I fully support the way that that's going to happen in future. So, it's time to move on.'' ''Every day in life you like to pick up something and move forward,'' he added. ''So I won't say my whole attitude to umpiring has changed but I think I have picked up a few things that are going to be very helpful to me in the future.'' The ICC yesterday said Hair will be kept away from matches involving Pakistan, who were unhappy with the decision to reinstate him. The Australian, however, was not averse to officiating in the South Asian country.

''Part of my contract is that I'm available now to umpire Test matches and one-day internationals,'' Hair said. ''Now whether that (umpiring in Pakistan) is going to happen I think you'll need to ask the people who make the appointments.

''I've got no comment on anyone else's reaction really. I'm just going to look after my own patch and go out there and umpire the matches that I'm appointed to and do that to the best of my ability, which is what I've always done.'' UNI XC AB RS1445