London, Sept. 30: Darrell Hair has been ridiculed and lambasted by former England captain Geoff Boycott who said the Australian umpire had a "big ego" and was still not willing to learn anything from his mistake.

In a scathing criticism of the ICC elite umpire, Boycott, one of the expert witnesses at the hearing of Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul Haq, said Hair had shown no understanding of what his action had cost cricket. After the verdict clearing Inzamam, Boycott said he was amazed to see Hair "so bullish", even thought the decision had gone against him.

"Hair showed no understanding at all of what the incident has cost cricket. To start with, there is the huge financial loss... Then there is the damage to the name of cricket, never mind the feelings of the Pakistani players and people," Boycott wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

Boycott said Hair was entirely wrong in penalising Pakistan for ball tampering and declaring the fourth Test forfeited. "It astonishes me that he could sit there, with absolutely no sign of contrition, implying that he would do the same thing again. He seems to have learnt nothing."

Boycott said Hair was a stickler for rules. "He’s a book-learner, with a big ego. He has studied the rules of cricket, and insists on his right to interpret them as he sees fit, whether there’s anyone to back him up or not. He offends players, particularly Asian players. He gets up their noses with his abrasive and abrupt style. Not surprisingly, they feel he has abused his authority."

Boycott said after the Oval fiasco, there was a danger that whenever Pakistan make the ball reverse-swing, people will automatically think they must have been doing something to the ball. "We all know there is a history there. Bowlers like Wasim Akram and Imran Khan have admitted that they used tampering techniques in the past.

"Last year, though, England beat Australia with reverse-swing; used superbly by Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones.

"That was treated as fair play simply on the basis that they were white men. But it would be unfortunate if people went around assuming that Pakistanis cheat and white men don’t.

"At the Oval, the whole thing was done and dusted in 11 minutes. I’m sorry, but it’s too big a deal for that. We don’t want umpires to be allowed to play God like this ever again," he said.