The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : PCB probe committee draws flak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

PCB probe committee draws flak

Karachi: There was confusion on Wednesday in the Pakistan cricket circles when the Chairman of the three-man inquiry committee, Ejaz Butt, constituted by the PCB to probe into the causes of the team's poor World Cup performance, insisted he would hold a press conference on Thursday to give details of the findings of the committee.

But PCB officials said he had not got any clearance from the Board for it and the PCB had nothing to do with the press conference.

Dr. Naseem Ashraf, the Chairman of the Board, had announced while constituting the probe committee that it would work independently and would have its own set of regulations.

But sources in the Board said he was not happy with the insistence of Butt — a former Test player and an ex-secretary of the Board — to make the report of the committee public although there was nothing special in it except some blame games.

"The report contains nothing spectacular and none has been held responsible for the World Cup fiasco," the source disclosed.

Pakistan was eliminated in the first round of the tournament after losing to the host, West Indies and minnow side Ireland.

Pakistan coach, Bob Woolmer also died in a hospital in Kingston, a day after Pakistan was knocked out of the event and Jamaican Police are still investigating his death as a murder. The probe committee interviewed and questioned several players including World Cup captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq and the team management while holding their inquiry.

Interestingly, the one reason given for the team's poor performance by media manager, Pervez Mir that the players were more focused on religious activities rather than their cricket in the World Cup was rejected by Butt — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail