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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has protested against the appointment of veteran New Zealander John Reid as match referee for this month's Asian Test Championship game against Bangladesh.

Hours after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) said Reid has been appointed match referee and another controversial figure Darrell Hair as the umpire for the Multan match, the PCB said it has lodged a protest against the New Zealander.

"Our stance (on Mr John Reid) is known to the International Cricket Council (ICC). We don't need to repeat it," a spokesman of the PCB said.

The Pakistan cricket officials had come down hard on the former New Zealand all-rounder after he fined and suspended Waqar Younis for one match after finding the pacer guilty of ball tampering during a match in the Sri Lankan tri-series last year.

Reid, a former captain, had also fined and warned Azhar Mahmood on the same charges. Interestingly, Reid had taken a unilateral decision as the two umpires had not complained to the match referee.

Prior to the Sri Lankan incident, Reid had raised suspicion on the legality of Shoaib Akhtar's bowling action on Hair's report during the Perth Test in 1999. Shoaib was suspended by the ICC before being allowed to play one-day cricket.

Dr Zafar Altaf, current PCB chairman's predecessor, had declared Reid persona non grata saying that the New Zealander was not welcome in Pakistan after his dual policies while tackling Shoaib's issue.

An ACC official admitted that it has received PCB's objection which will be forwarded to the ICC for its consideration. "Now it is for the ICC to decide whether they stick to Reid or appoint a new match referee," ACC sources said.

The ICC are bound to accept PCB's request after it admitted Sri Lanka's protest and removed Hair from all the 1999 World Cup matches involving Sri Lanka after the umpire had called Muttiah Muralitharan seven times in an over during the Melbourne Test in Australia in 1995-96.

The ACC spokesman said while Hair will be the ICC nominee, the second umpire would be appointed by the technical committee of the ACC. He said either a Sri Lankan or an Indian will stand in the match.

The decision to have one umpire from the subcontinent is aimed at grooming the officials from Asia. However, in the 1999 championship, both the umpires and the match referee were from outside the competing countries.

The ACC also approved the points system recommended by its technical committee comprising Sunil Gavaskar (India), Zaheer Abbas (Pakistan), Asantha De Mel (Sri Lanka) and Gazi Ashraf (Bangladesh).

A team winning a match by an innings will get 16 points and an outright victory will fetch 12 points. In addition, bonus points have also been provided in the first 100 overs of the first innings of both teams.

Scoring 250-299 runs will earn one point, between 300-349 will fetch two points, between 350-399 three points and above 400 runs four points.

On the bowling side, a team taking four to five wickets will get one point, six to seven will earn two, eight and nine three points and four points for all 10 wickets.

© Dawn