Govt and cricket

Just a day after the International Cricket Council (ICC) banned its member nations from making political appointments to national cricket boards, the Sri Lankans announced that they accepted the ruling and had disbanded an interim committee appointed by their government to run cricket in the island. But Pakistan, where a gentleman handpicked by the government is running a one-man show, is a different story. What a top Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told the media after his return early on Saturday morning from Hong Kong which hosted the ICC moot shows the extent of government meddling in our cricket affairs. PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed made it clear that the Board would decide its course of action on the ICC ruling after discussing the issue with the government. “How we implement this reform will depend on our talks with the government,” Ahmed told reporters. However, the writing is on the wall for the PCB bigwigs. The ICC executive board has given cricket boards 12 months to implement free elections and another 12-month grace period before any sanctions would be considered against a member nation.

According to the ICC, the idea behind this move is to free cricket from undue influence and outright government meddling. The reform allows the ICC to suspend a member country in the event of government interference in the running of a national cricket board. Unsurprisingly, the ICC move has been welcomed by people like Imran Khan, the former Pakistan Test captain, who is a staunch critic of the current PCB set-up. Political meddling is certainly spoiling our cricket. PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has been heavily criticised for his poor policies both at home and abroad. But he continues to weather all sorts of storms because he has the backing of President Zardari who, as the PCB’s chief patron, has the powers to hire or fire Board chiefs. Because of such direct political involvement, it is difficult to run Pakistan cricket in a transparent manner. There isn’t much accountability either. It is time our government learnt to separate sports from politics.

Bangladesh Cricket postpones national U-19 cricket team's tour to Pakistan

Pakistan cricket seems to have suffered yet another setback as the Bangladesh Cricket Board has decided to postpone a tour of its national Under-19 team to Pakistan.

The Bangladesh U-19 team was scheduled to tour Pakistan from later this month but a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said that they have got a request from their counterpart to postpone the series.

The official declined to give reasons for the BCB's decision but said the series could be played at a later date this year.

Sources in the board said the BCB's request could stem from security concerns about playing in Pakistan in present situation, although the Pakistan Football Federation hosted the Bangladesh team for a World Cup qualifying match in Lahore on Sunday.

The Bangladesh football officials had also initially asked the sport's world governing body to move their World Cup qualifying match against Pakistan from Lahore but their request was rejected despite their security concerns.

Bangladesh football team coach was fired for refusing to go to Pakistan.

Relations between the Pakistan and Bangladesh boards have not been at their best in recent times, particularly after BCB cancelled a tour by the Pakistan team to Bangladesh immediately after the militants attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March, 2009.

Later in a tit for tat response, Pakistan also sat on an invitation to play a series of one-day matches in Bangladesh.

Relations soured further when Pakistan accused Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka for not supporting it when the ICC decided to move the 2011 World Cup matches out of Pakistan on security grounds.

No foreign teams have toured Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver and wounding five Sri Lankan players.

Since then the only foreign team to have visited Pakistan was Afghanistan, who played a One-day series against the Pakistan 'A' side recently.

The PCB official said the tour by the Bangladesh U-19 team had been finalised in a bid to allow junior players to prepare for next year's ICC youth World Cup. 

PCB should host T20, 50-over domestic leagues: Sohail

The resounding success of first super eights T20 tournament in Faisalabad has impressed Aamir Sohail and the former captain feels the board should organize a T20 and 50-over League in the smaller cities of the country until international cricket returns to Pakistan.

The Iqbal stadium in Faisalabad on Friday night was packed to the hilt with thousands more clamoring outside the stadium to get in for the final of the super eights tournament that saw the unfancied Rawalpindi Rams upset Karachi Dolphins.

The match also saw an eliminator over bowled in a T20 match in Pakistan to decide the winner for the first time. Both teams had tied on the final ball after Karachi set a stiff target of 165 but in the eliminator over, Rawalpindi scored 16 runs and Karachi were unable to match and lost both their batsmen.

"The way the people have poured into the stadium every day of this week long tournament shows just hungry the Pakistanis are for quality cricket," Sohail said.

"We have seen such a packed house and atmosphere after such a long time. I have no doubt that if the board organizes limited over cricket leagues all over the country it will be an instant success," Sohail added.

No foreign team has toured Pakistan since March, 2009 for security reasons after militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in which six Pakistani police and a van driver were killed.

Pakistan has been forced to relocate its next two "home" series against Sri Lanka and England also to Dubai and Abu Dhabi after both teams refused to play in Pakistan.