ICC ‘puts’ Pakistan cricket affairs on right track

With the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) having started working on the guidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC), let us hope our topsy turvy cricket affairs are put on the right track. It is, however, disappointing that what should have been done by PCB chief Ijaz Butt and his predecessors at their own is being done under the instructions of the ICC and that too when the world cricket body threatened to suspend Ijaz or the PCB if their instructions were not followed. To ensure prompt implementation the PCB hurriedly drafted a code of conduct for players and got it signed before the Pakistan team departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to play ODI and Test series against South Africa.

The ICC code of conduct existed for all times while there was a similar code of the PCB also. One fails to understand why were these codes not strictly enforced by the PCB chairman, a serious neglect which resulted in the players going astray to involve themselves in undesirable activities. If the PCB administration was run properly, the players should have been briefed about the codes of conduct and other instructions, rules and regulations. In addition the copies of these documents both in English and Urdu should have been issued to them for detailed study.

The attitude of ‘yesmanship’, which prevails in the board, must end and officials who understand cricket must pick up the courage to speak against any thing going wrong. Similarly, members of the so-called ‘Advisory Board’ should wake up and play an active part in the affairs of cricket. The chaos occurred because rather than acting as a democratic head Ijaz assumed the powers of a ‘dictator’. With one stroke of pen or a word of mouth he could do what ever he liked. Frequent appointments and dismissals of board officials became a routine with the result that whatever unity, harmony and understanding existed amongst them was destroyed. The responsibility for such a state of affairs rests partly with the federal ministry of sports and the sports committees of the Senate and National Assembly. They have frequent meetings to discuss cricket affairs but remain oblivious to the fact that a very vital issue is lying in the ‘cold storage’ for years now. It is the ‘draft PCB Constitution’. It will surprise many cricket lovers to know that the PCB is running without a constitution for the last 10 years. The document, which is supposed to be approved by the President of Pakistan, was discussed at various levels of the government and dumped. Sincere efforts were not made to reach a consensus on its contents and got it approved. Once the constitution is promulgated, the powers to run the PCB will be automatically divided between the chairman and the advisory council, marking an end to dictatorship.

The President of Pakistan, who is the patron-in-chief of the PCB, and the ministry of sports must take notice of the dictatorial policies going on in the t board and take immediate action to stop them. It is not necessary for the PCB chief to visit every country. When touring abroad, the team’s affairs are supposed to be handled by the manager and the tour management committee. Is not it amazing that Ijaz made 30 foreign trips during the last two years staying abroad for 233 days and spending around Rs15 million from the PCB’s coffers. It has become a common practice to send a horde of officials with the team. The team that left for the UAE the other day carried eight officials including a masseur. I think such a gang of officials is a bad influence on the team. Since each one of them has players of his liking in the team. Such ‘favouritism’ is bound to create groups in the team. In our times there used to be only 2-3 officials with a touring squad and the results were much better. A lot depends on our team’s performance against South Africa. The inclusion of Younus Khan in the side is surely a plus point but the eyes of the cricket lovers are focused more on Misbahul Haq’s captaincy. An impressive performance and good behaviour of the team can give a new lease of life to Ijaz.