In his column in 'The Sunday Telegraph', Atherton said ICC was to be blamed for allowing the Oval Test fiasco to linger on and that its entire conduct during the controversy left a lot to be desired.

"If the spark was precipitated by bad umpiring, it was allowed to develop into a raging fire by the inability of the ICC to act promptly and rigorously," he said.

"The saga showed the ICC at their worst: prevaricating, in that a judgment which should have been handed out on the fourth evening of the game was allowed to fester for a month; callous, when it revealed confidential e-mails from an employee; and ultimately fudging a verdict so as not to upset the key players in this very political game -- the Asian bloc." The former cricketer turned commentator was also of the view that the Oval mistake should not cost Darrell Hair his job.

"It was the brusqueness and insensitivity of Hair's conduct, without a solid evidence, which was at fault," he said adding "I would like to see Hair umpire again at the top level, but I doubt if it will happen."

Meanwhile, Atherton has questioned the rationale behind holding Champions Trophy tournament which he said had more to do with money than cricket.

The cricketer-turned-commentator was also critical of the scheduling of the tournament, coming as it does six months before the World Cup.

"The Champions Trophy, unashamedly, has always had more to do with money than cricket," he wrote in his column for 'The Telegraph'.

"The Champions Trophy... Has nothing to do with finding the best one-day team and a lot to do with empire-building," he said citing profits that the International Cricket Council stands to make from the tournament starting in India on Oct 7.

"The Champions Trophy, it could be said, encapsulates the essence of the central debate that currently exercises the minds of those who run the game.

"How far can the boundaries of cricket's integrity be stretched within the framework required to raise funds for the continuing expansion of the game? How much is too much? At what point will the general public take a stand against the gradual erosion of quality for the sake of more profit?" Atherton said the administrators were siding with short-term expansion and profit.

"No organisation that can schedule a mini-World Cup, which is essentially what the Champions Trophy is, six months before the real thing can claim otherwise.

"The public should know better than to fall for such a sucker punch, but the Indian public are the least discerning of the cricketing audiences. One-day international cricket there, in any shape or form, is likely to sell," he wrote.