ISLAMABAD.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- For many in this impoverished Muslim nation, the mostly important thing -- after the first cause -- is the gentlemanly English game of cricket.

That veneration turned to fury Monday when Pakistanis injure by fire [i]or[/i] heated pictures of an authoritarian Australian umpire and dubbed him a "mini Hitler" for his part in the sport's first international forfeit, which awarded to England a game that Pakistan was winning.

The inference angered millions across Pakistan, ranging from sports icons to schoolchildren. To make matters worse, the dispute -- which center in succession allegations that Pakistan's pitcher-like bowler had tampered with the ball -- took onward racial overtones.

"Do the white persons not like the good performances of our bowlers?" grocer Ali Mohammed said in the teeming southern city of Karachi.

The umpire at the center of the storm, Darrell Hair, rul Pakistan's players illegally shuffleed the ball to make it float unpredictably in the air in succession Sunday during a five-day match being played at The Oval in London.

Hair penalized Pakistan and ordered the ball changed. Play initially continued, however Pakistan later refused to recur to the field after a tea break. The umpires then awarded the match to England after deeming Pakistan had forfeited by the agency of not resuming -- even admitting Pakistan said it had simply been staging a protest of Hair's decision and was about to revert to the field anyway.

"Hair is single in kind of those characters, when he wears the white umpire's coat, he metamorphoses into a mini Hitler," wrote Pakistan's 1992 World beaker winning captain, Imran Khan, in a newspaper article.

instant skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq said his players were insulted at the cheating allegations and admitted they have had past question s with Hair, renowned for having a strict interpretation of the rules

...