Former players slam cricket committee

KARACHI: The role of PCB's cricket committee is diminishing with each passing day, as it has not done anything to assist PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani.

The committee was established four months ago. The cricket committee is not seen doing anything for Pakistan cricket , said former Test and ODI cricketer Jalaluddin while talking to 'The News' on Wednesday.

The committee consists of three former captains of Pakistan, Mohsin Khan, Wasim Akram, Misbah-ul-Haq and former Pakistan women cricket captain Urooj Mumtaz. Jalal said that Urooj had been included in the women cricket team’s selection committee and nobody can hold two positions under PCB's rules.

The cricket committee has done nothing about domestic cricket. Sources in the cricket circles said that the cricket committee had held only one meeting. And nobody knows what happened in that meeting, they added.

They said that once a committee member spoke against PCB policies, which was not liked by the PCB high bureaucracy and since then the role of the cricket committee had been diminished. The members of the committee were ignored during the PSL matches.

The PCB chairman Ehsan Mani established this committee in October and now more than four months have passed. The ex-officio members are Zakir Khan, Director International Cricket, Haroon Rasheed, Director Domestic Cricket, and Mudassar Nazar, Director Academies.

The terms of reference of the committee are to review the plans for promotion and conduct of game of cricket at all levels, formulate playing conditions for domestic matches, oversee appointment of selection committees, oversee appointment of national team coaches, meet the chief selector and coach (Men, Women and Junior) three times a year. These terms and reference were announced by PCB official Subhan Ahmed, who has been demoted in the PCB after Wasim Khan was appointed in the PCB as MD. The committee has also been asked to review plans for the development of umpires, referees and curators.

Subhan had made it clear that this committee had no decision making power and it had been established to guide PCB chairman on important cricket issues. After PSL and inclusion of Urooj Mumtaz in the women cricket team selection committee, it seems the committee is no longer important for PCB, a former Test cricket said.