The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Akhtar to take action after panel submits report

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

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Akhtar to take action after panel submits report

ISLAMABAD, MAY 1. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who finds himself at the centre of the injury controversy rocking Pakistan cricket, would decide his future course of action after the medical inquiry commission submits its report on May 4.

``I will announce my next course of action at a press conference after the medical commission's report is made public,'' Akhtar was quoted as saying in local daily Dawn on Saturday.

Akhtar's statement came a day after results of a bone-scanning test at a reputed hospital in Lahore, run by Imran Khan, revealed that the bowler had an injury on his 11th rib.

The tearaway fast bowler, whose refusal to bowl on the third day of the series-deciding cricket Test against India in Rawalpindi led to speculation that he may have faked the injury, was confident that the four-member inquiry commission would give him a clean chit.

But a top Pakistan Cricket Board official said that it was only a bone-scan report and not the PCB appointed medical commission's finding.

Media reports here said that the commission's report would be submitted to the PCB on May 4 and it would be made public the next day.

Nothing personal: PCB

Meanwhile, the PCB has said it had ``nothing personal'' against the star bowler and was just trying to ``set things right'' by having an inquiry.

The PCB CEO Rameez Raja said it was wrong to perceive that the Board had anything against the `Rawalpindi Express' as it had ``fought'' with the International Cricket Council when Akhtar's bowling action came under scrutiny.

``The Board did everything in its power to defend him and get him cleared then. The PCB has nothing personal against him or any other player,'' Raja said.

``But the bottomline is that if we feel and get conclusive feedback that any player is not trying hard enough or has an attitude and communication problem with the captain, then we need to see the situation in its perspective and set things right.''

Raja also said the Board was not too interested in mere ``change of personnel'' in the aftermath of twins defeats to India in the recent cricket series.

``A change of personnel will count for nothing. It is the way of thinking in the team and among players that has to be changed and we are looking and reviewing on these lines.

``The truth is nothing has been decided as yet on what we plan to do in the coming days. I have not had a chance to discuss this with the chairman (Shaharyar Khan) because of the death of my father, neither have I met any player.

``We have our own viewpoints about the Rawalpindi Test loss to India as well as the reasons for inconsistencies throughout the series, but so far we have not had a chance to sit down and discuss them among ourselves,'' he said.

Raja maintained that no decision had been taken on whether changes were needed in the team management.

``I think that Javed (Miandad) has another year of contract with us while the manager's contract has expired with the India series. All these things we will review soon. But at this stage nothing has been decided,'' he said.

Claiming that no decision had been taken on appointing a foreign coach, he said, ``I think in some areas the weaknesses have been apparent. We are looking at having specialist support with the team but frankly speaking nothing is going to change much in the team...''

The PCB chief executive, however, said he would be seeking the opinion of such former greats like Sunil Gavaskar, Bob Woolmer, Barry Richards, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell when they come to Lahore to attend the Asian Cricket Council seminar on May 9 and 10.

``We have contacted some of these people in the past to be our national coach but nothing came through. But we are looking at some of them to give us their views on how we can improve our cricket culture and more importantly if some of them can work sparingly at our National Cricket Academy with our young players,'' he said. — PTI

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