Hair offered to resign in an e-mail to his boss, Doug Cowie

Hair wrote to the ICC offering to resign in return for $500,000, after the ball-tampering row with Pakistan.

"I wish to apologise for an ill-advised but entirely confidential e-mail that gave people opportunity to question my motives," the 53-year-old said.

"I also thank people around the world for their support in huge numbers."

The Australian admitted he was surprised by the level of support he says he has received since the controversy in the final Test on Sunday 20 August led to Pakistan refusing to take to the field and forfeiting the match against England.

"I am both stunned and gratified by those messages from people I've never even met," he said.

Hair, now based in Lincoln in England, initially claimed the ICC considered his offer and had asked him to put it in writing.

But this has been dismissed by the governing body, with chief executive Malcolm Speed terming the correspondence "totally inappropriate".

His next umpiring appointment was to have been a second XI match between Derbyshire and Gloucestershire at Chesterfield on Wednesday but it has been decided he will not now stand.

"It is inappropriate for him to do the match with what is going on," said Chris Kelly, the umpires and match operations manager of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Hair is due to be among the officials for the Champions Trophy tournament beginning in India in October, but the ICC is thought to be reviewing his position.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has decsribed Hair as a "highly respected international umpire".

And he added: "I'm sure no matter what happens, whether he continues to umpire at international level or wherever else, he's still got a lot to offer cricket." Mel Johnson, CA's umpire selection chairman, said that even if Hair lost his place on the ICC's elite panel of umpires, they would still be willing to nominate him for the international panel, which would enable him to carry on standing in one-day matches.

"Darrell has not done anything wrong and therefore there is no reason why he couldn't come back on the international panel," he added.