Inzamam will not appeal ban

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq will not appeal against the four-match ban slapped on him by the International Cricket Council as he believes the verdict is fair and the punishment lenient.

Inzamam said he is happy that the team had been cleared of the more serious charge of ball tampering which tantamounted to cheating and that he had no regrets about missing next month's ICC Champions Trophy in India.

"I am happy we have been cleared of a charge that was the basis of what happened in the Oval Test. We are sorry that we could not finish the Test against England but the main cause of our protest is now behind us," he said from London immediately after the verdict was announced.

The Pakistan skipper was cleared of ball tampering but banned for four one-day internationals for bringing the game into disrepute.

"I have no regrets at all because we have been cleared of the ball tampering charge which was a serious accusation against us and basically meant we were cheating in the Test. Everyone knows that we were in a strong position to win that game," he stated.

He said he has no intentions of appealing against the ban because the hearing had been fair.

Meanwhile, sources said Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who had laid the charges against Inzamam, left the venue immediately in a huff after he learnt that Inzamam was cleared of ball tampering charge and had been banned for just four games.

With regards to his offer to resign in the aftermath of the Oval row, Hair admitted that: "it may well have been an ill-advised thing to do at the time, I think I've already admitted that."

But he took a swipe at the ICC's decision to make the letters public.

 "I believe [such things] should remain confidential. We learn lots of things from the things we do in life. I still believe that those matters should be kept confidential. It's something that's part of the ICC Code of Conduct hearing and I've explained why I can't discuss that."

Asked if the decision to penalise Pakistan was wrong, he said, "my contract at the ICC clearly states that I must umpire to the best of my ability ... all I will say is I'm out there doing my best. I'm not here to defend any decision. I umpire matches in good faith. I do it to the best of my ability."

"I've umpired since 1985 and from the day I started umpiring my career was in the hands of other people. People make assessments on my career on a ball by ball basis. If other people who have always made those decisions consider I'm good enough to still umpire, I will continue."

He also brushed aside suggestions that he had effectively put himself out of the equation for umpiring some countries.

"That will be up to other people to decide whether it has damaged my relationship with any other team around the world."