What seemed like a serious but by no means life-threatening incident at The Oval last weekend has now escalated into a full-on catastrophe for international cricket.

The revelation that Darrell Hair offered to resign his position as an ICC umpire in return for a one-off payment of half a million dollars is just staggering. I'm not entirely sure what the ICC's reasoning was for making the e-mail public as they must have known what would happen.

Last week, Darrell Hair was damaged by the allegation that his actions were unwise, although not against the rules, when he changed the ball without speaking to Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and, to be blunt, a little bit childish when he refused to come back out on to the field of play following Pakistan's protest. But there's a world of difference between being damaged, and possibly not being picked for matches that involve teams from the subcontinent, and the situation we now find ourselves in whereby he surely cannot continue as a professional Test umpire under any circumstances.

Not to put too fine a point on it, he has lost his moral authority and that is the cornerstone of an umpire's position. Every player now knows that Hair has a price. We're used to allegations involving players - anything from match-fixing to providing information about the pitch to bookmakers has been thrown in the past. But umpires must be seen as incorruptible. I can see it now - if he were ever to stand as an umpire again, the first time he turns down an appeal for lbw, he will get the question from the fielding side 'well, how much do you want to give it out?'

That situation is intolerable and Hair's position is now untenable. His offer to step down will surely now be granted - but he won't walk off into the sunset with half a million dollars, just the last tattered remnants of what used to be his reputation.

Last song on the iPod: The Divine Comedy - A Lady Of A Certain Age