Controversial ball change spoils Ashes finale: Is this cricket?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Ashes 2023 produced high quality entertainment for the cricket fans as all five Test matches between England and Australia witnessed fierce battles for supremacy and probably it was in the fitness of things that the series was drawn in the end although the home fans were left to rue the rain-affected fourth Test in which the visitors were fighting hard to avoid a crushing defeat. 

There were a lot of headliners in the decisive fifth and final Test at the Kia Oval but the on-field umpires Joel Wilson of the West Indies and Kumar Dharmasena became the centre of controversy for their decision of changing the ball in the 37th over of Australia’s second innings. 

The replacement ball brought about a dramatic change in England’s fortunes and the struggling bowlers soon became lethal to alter complexion of the game. It became obvious that the changed ball was significantly harder and newer than the ball that had been used previously. The vastly experienced English bowlers, hungry for success, fully exploited the situation and Australia, until then firmly in control, lost their 10 wickets in 58.3 overs after the ball change. England managed to win the game after being in serious danger of losing it for all money. 

Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, who was watching the action from the commentators’ box, could not hide his displeasure and shock even on camera. "The biggest concern I have is the big discrepancy in the condition of the ball that was chosen to replace the one that had gone out of shape. There's no way in the world you can even look at those two balls there and say in any way are they comparable,” he complained in a live television interview. 

"At the end of the day, if you are going to change the ball, you want to make sure that you get it right, so you make it as close as you possibly can to the one that you're changing it from. Now if you have a look in that box, there weren't too many older-condition balls in there. There were some older ones that were picked up, the umpires looked at that and threw them back,” he pointed out. 

"I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done that a lot of times before can get that so wrong. That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think actually has to be investigated: whether there was the right condition of balls in the box, or the umpires have just, blasé, picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use," Ponting lashed out.

"The conditions were perfect for bowling this morning, let's say that. The conditions were better for bowling this morning. But what I saw last night, that ball there, I'll put my hand up and say I've got absolutely no doubt at all that that ball would not have done anywhere near as much as what that one did this morning. Double the amount of movement this morning from yesterday afternoon, seam movement and swing. I think it's a huge blunder that needs to be investigated," he elaborated.

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ICC saddened at passing of Dean Jones

By Masood Sattar Khan

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has expressed sadness at the passing of former Australian Test batsman Dean Jones, at the age of 59, in Mumbai on September 24. 

“We are extremely sad to hear of Dean’s sudden death and I would like to extend our deep condolences to his family and friends on behalf of the ICC,” Manu Sawhney, Chief Executive, ICC, said in a statement. 

“Dean was a prolific batter playing in 52 Tests and 164 ODIs and was part of the 1987 Australia team who won the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. He had a significant impact on the game of cricket as a player, as an advocate for the development of the sport as a coach and latterly in his role as a broadcaster. He will be sorely missed by all those in the cricket family,” the ICC chief added. 

An attacking batter, the Victorian featured in 52 Tests, making 3631 runs at an average of 46.55. In 164 ODIs, he made 6068 runs, at 44.61, with seven hundreds and 46 fifties. He was a part of Australia's winning team in the 1987 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, hosted jointly by Pakistan and India, and remains number five on the all-time MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Batting Rankings in the format. 

One of his most memorable Test innings came in 1986, when in the heat and humidity of Chennai, he battled exhaustion and illness to make a heroic 210 in what would be only the second tied Test ever. He had retired from international cricket in 1994 and went on to become a coach and more recently a broadcaster commentating on cricket around the world.

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Zaheer Abbas, Jacques Kallis inducted in ICC Hall of Fame

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan’s batting great Zaheer Abbas and South Africa’s incredibly gifted all-rounder Jacques Kallis, alongwith Australian World Cup-winning women all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar, have been inducted in the coveted Hall of Fame by the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

The ICC announced the induction of the three retired greats of the game into the Hall of Fame during an absorbing show broadcast around the world via digital channels. 

Zaheer Abbas, a former Pakistan captain, was globally admired for his stylish stroke-play in the 1970s and the 1980s to be titled the Asian Bradman. He earned the honour of becoming the first batsman from Asia to score a century of centuries in first-class cricket. 

Jacques Kallis remained the leading all-round cricketer of his country upon their readmission to international arena in 1990s. Besides being a prolific top-order batsman he was also an effective fast bowler who took wickets consistently in Tests as well as One-day Internationals. 

Meanwhile the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), through a statement, has congratulated Zaheer Abbas on his induction in the ICC Hall of Fame.

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Cricket World Cup Super League to start on July 30

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that top seven teams from the Super League and hosts India will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup. 

The forthcoming ODI series between England and Ireland, beginning on July 30, will officially kick-start the Cricket World Cup Super League, the game’s governing body confirmed on July 27. 

The World Cup Super League, announced first in June 2018, was introduced alongside the Test Championship to provide context to ODI cricket by acting as a qualification pathway to determine participants for the 2023 Men's World Cup in India. 

A total of 13 teams, including Netherlands who won the ICC World Cricket League 2015-17, will feature in the Super League with the top seven teams, besides hosts India, securing direct qualification to the 2023 World Cup.

Over the course of the league, each team will play four series at home and four away, with teams awarded 10 points for a win and five for no result or tie. All Super League assignments will be three-match series although teams will be free to schedule additional games, results of which will not be considered for league points. 

The five bottom sides from the league will fight for the final two spots of the 10-team showpiece event at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, where they will  be joined by Associate countries that have progressed from the Cricket World Cup League 2 as well as the two Cricket World Cup Challenge Leagues via the Qualifier Playoff. 

The World Cup Super League was originally scheduled to begin in May 2020 and run until March 2022 before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic pushed back the start date to July 30. 

The Cricket World Cup League 2 series due to be hosted in Namibia in September and also involving Papua New Guinea and the United States has been postponed and will be rescheduled.

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Engagement of locals essential in boosting cricket across continents

By Naeem-ul-Haq in USA 
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The International Cricket Council (ICC), now headquartered in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), has been taking various steps from time to time to spread the gentleman’s game to every nook and corner of the world. 

At the moment, the ICC has 104 members, which include a dozen full members, who have the entitlement to play Test cricket besides having other privileges. England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh are the full members of the ICC, being the top cricket playing nations of the world. 

While the respective cricket boards in almost each of these countries have professional set-up as they have plenty of resources as well as numerous opportunities to sustain and grow, the same could not be said about the 92 Associate members who have had rely, almost entirely, on the ICC support for their survival. 

Although the ICC, over the past few years, has initiated moves to create more space and opportunities for the Associate members there’s a lot more to be done to get them going in the truest sense of the word. 

It’s indeed gladdening that now eight Associate member countries are allowed to play One-day Internationals on the basis of performance in the World Cricket League (WCL). Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States of America (USA) enjoy the rights to play ODIs. 

Similarly, following a decision by the ICC in April 2018, the T20I status has been granted for all the Associate members since January 1, 2019. 

All the Associate members had remained eligible to play in the ICC World Cricket League, a series of international one-day cricket administered by the ICC until 2019. It was then replaced by the World Cup League Two and World Cup Challenge League since 2019. 

In addition to key administrative requirements of the national governing body, an Associate member has to posses a minimum of 16 senior teams and 16 junior teams playing in a structured competition or competitions besides having access to at least eight cricket grounds, four of which must be having a permanent pitch. 

The ICC, with the collaboration of the local governing bodies, has been trying to get the best results but there are certain factors which are hampering the growth of cricket in these countries. 

While in majority of the countries only the bonafide citizens qualify to become a member of their national cricket team but there still are quite a few countries, most notably the Middle East, where cricketers of various other nationalities sneak into the team. 

What purpose will it serve to the development of its cricket of that particular nation when outsiders from other countries will occupy all the spots in the national team? It will obviously distract and disengage local talent. 

All efforts to promote cricket, without engaging the locals, will prove cosmetic and the exercise will prove futile. The ICC should look into this matter to ensure that the goals of globalization of the sport are achieved.

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Five-day Test should continue unabated

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has done a fantastic job by having finally launched the World Test Championship last year. It has already been hailed as a success story as it seems to possess many ingredients to become a permanent feature in the future. 

Instead of waiting to reap harvests from the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship, due to conclude in the summer of 2023, the governing body of the sport has dropped a kind of bombshell by showing inclination towards having four-day Tests. It’s obviously nonsense of the highest order. Such an idea never merits discussion in an ICC meeting. 

The announcement that the ICC cricket committee will consider making four-day Tests mandatory, as part of the World Test Championship from 2023, has come as a shocker to say the least. 

How dare could the ICC even think of committing such a heinous crime? They have been guilty of doing so many odd things disrespectful to the game and its stature in the past, but contemplating four-day Tests is something beyond ethics. 

Well everyone knows about the priorities of the ICC. There is no element of ‘news’ or anything like that in them thinking about commercialization or more commercialization. 

But ‘killing’ Test cricket in order to free up a calendar, thought to be cramped with too many fixtures and T20 leagues, is something which can only be condemned in the harshest possible way. 

How do the movers and shakers of the ICC lose sight of the fact that its Test cricket which sustained the game since it became global in the 19th century? The limited overs versions arrived much later in the second half of the 20th century. 

And now the ICC, having become a commercial powerhouse, is prepared to temper with Test cricket, which is well and truly disgusting. 

Whoever, within the ICC, has masterminded this idea of reducing the duration of Test matches from five days to four days, is certainly not a friend of the game. Neither that person or may be a group of persons, who are pleading this, could be regarded as the well-wishers of cricket. 

Those having turned millionaires, or even billionaires, because of cricket, should not try to stab the game which is a source of recreation to global audience. 

The Test playing nations, who constitute the ICC, have a rich history of the game and, more than any other format, its Test cricket, yes Test cricket, whose glories have mattered the most to them. 

If the ICC has run out of ideas otherwise for the maximization of their profits, they would be advised to refrain from tabling such horrible proposals which will only be opposed bitterly by the cricket-loving fraternity. 

The marketers or even the administrators pursuing the move at the ICC appear oblivious of the charm and beauty of the fifth day of Test matches. The cricket followers should not be deprived of the rare pleasures of witnessing action-packed fifth day thrillers for financial or commercial reasons. 

Hopefully better sense will prevail at the ICC cricket committee and they will shoot down the proposal even without deliberating on it.

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Nadeem Omar honours ICC President

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Nadeem Omar, an acclaimed sports patron, has firmly set the tradition of honouring the living legends and the evening dedicated to the President of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Zaheer Abbas, also known as the Asian Bradman, was an extension of it. 

The Crystal Ball Room of Hotel Marriott in Karachi was the venue of the reception hosted in the honour of the ICC President by Omar Associates on May 22 and it turned out be yet another memorable gathering of cricket fraternity. 

Jamshed Omar, Founder and Chairman of Omar Associates (Pvt) Ltd, presented a shield to Zaheer Abbas, who also received a gold medal from Nadeem Omar, the firm’s Managing Director. 

Speaking on the occasion, Zaheer Abbas complimented the hosts for having set the tradition of national heroes. 

“This is an extraordinary service to the nation. Heroes are meant to be honoured and respected. It reflects that we are a vibrant and cultured nation. We need more people like Nadeem Omar in Pakistan to keep doing this more often,” the Asian Bradman declared. 

“Nadeem Omar, besides being a great patron of sports, is also a very lively person with whom I have fond memories on many tours. He is an enterprising person, having been gifted with a fabulous mind and a generous heart. He deserves to be complimented for his outstanding efforts,” Zaheer Abbas complimented. 

He regretted the decline in the standard of the game in Pakistan in the recent past but expressed the hope that things will get better as soon as foreign teams start visiting Pakistan in not too distant future. 

 “It’s indeed painful for me to note that our batsmen are not being able to perform consistently at the highest level for quite a long time now. The batting legends have retired long time ago. It really hurts at times because we have had a formidable batting line-up in our era,” he felt. 

The former Pakistan captain, who scored prolifically in Tests as well as the One-day Internationals, said he’s satisfied with his own performance as the ICC President during one-year tenure. 

Nadeem Omar, in his welcome speech, described Zaheer Abbas as a jewel in crown, who has made the country proud with his accomplishments as a cricketer as well as an administrator. 

“He was not only hero from the time I started following cricket but he was idolized by millions of people from all over the world. His batting remained poetry in motion and we all loved his stylish stroke-play,” 

Nadeem Omar reflected. 

Fawad Ijaz Khan, Chairman, Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA), Salahuddin Ahmed, former chief selector, Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui, President, Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), Arif Habib, Chairman, Arif Habib Group, Qamar Ahmed, veteran journalist, Mansoor Masood Khan, Member Governing Board, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Moin Khan, former Pakistan captain, were the other speakers on the occasion. 

The ceremony was attended by a large number of eminent cricketers, including Jalaluddin, Saleem Yousuf, Sikander Bakht, Nadeem Khan, Ghulam Ali, Mahmood Hamid and Tanvir Ahmed.

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Hosts Bangladesh to contest ICC World T20 2014 qualifiers

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Hosts Bangladesh will be needed to appear in the first round, serving as the qualifiers for the Super 10 stage, in the next year's ICC World Twenty20 to be staged there from March 16 and April 6.

According to the details announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on October 27, Bangladesh will be grouped with three other Associate and Affiliate nations who will come through the qualifying tournament due to be staged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 15 to 30. 

The format for the World T20 2014 has been modified in order to accommodate 16 teams this time round as compared to 12 in the last edition. The top eight sides of the ICC's T20 team rankings as on October 8, 2012 have been given direct entry into the Super 10 stage. 

Unsurprisingly Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the eight teams having directly qualified for the Super 10 stage by virtue of being the top eight sides in the ICC rankings on the cut-off date. 

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who have finished outside the top eight, will now have compete with six other qualifying teams in the first round from March 16 to 21 for the remaining two places in the Super 10 groups.

The six qualifying teams to join the first round will be decided at the end of the World T20 qualifiers next month. If hosts Bangladesh do qualify they will play all Super 10 matches in Mirpur. 

Bangladesh will begin their campaign in the qualifying rounds, also in Mirpur, on March 16, against one of the Associate or Affiliate qualifiers. They will play the other two first-round matches, in Chittagong, on March 18 and 20. 

The Super 10 stage will kickoff with a Group 2 match between the arch rivals and former World T20 champions, Pakistan and India, in Mirpur, on March 21 while holders West Indies will get into action on March 23 against India in Mirpur and will play the rest of their group matches against Pakistan, Australia and a qualifying team. 

The Group 1 in the Super 10 stage will comprise of Sri Lanka, England, South Africa and New Zealand with one of the qualifiers.

Meanwhile Cox's Bazaar has been dropped as a venue for the 2014 World T20 to be held in Bangladesh between Sylhet, another venue considered doubtful due to ongoing work at the stadium, has been retained. 

The ICC has announced that Sylhet would host all first-round fixtures of the Women's World T20 and a few group matches of the World T20, along with Mirpur and Chittagong while all the six knockout matches will be played in Mirpur. 

Sylhet and Cox's Bazaar had been in doubt because of ongoing development works being carried out at the stadiums and were granted an extension until November 30 by the ICC upon a request by the Bangladesh Cricket Board as the original deadline for the completion of the stadiums was September 30.

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Spot-fixing, match-fixing to continue despite ICC actions

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The recent decision on behalf of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to impose bans on the Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir has not come as any surprise.

Michael Beloff, Chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, and his tribunal took their time before finally announcing the decision in Doha on February 5. Obviously they appeared in no hurry in arriving at any decision that would cause any embarrassment for the ICC at any point of time.

It had become quite clear that the authorities had gathered evidence in some form or the other before suspending the three Pakistani cricketers earlier last year. They took their time in framing the charges and didn’t push for any hasty verdict either.

The question in everybody’s mind right now is whether the decision of the ICC to ban Salman, Asif and Aamir for 10, 7 and 5 years respectively will make the game absolutely clean from the malpractices that have ruined the image of the game for the last many year.

Different people have different answers to this but I don’t foresee any change in trend as a result of the recent ICC actions. Those who are into it in a big way will continue doing it because they don’t do it single-handedly or individually. They have the clout and the cover in the corridors of power.

Yes there’s a possibility that the odd adventurous guys planning to do it on their own to make a fortune overnight will be discouraged because they would fear jeopardizing their career if nabbed.

Match-fixing or spot-fixing, even the law-enforcers concede, cannot be eliminated. There are numerous reasons for this. The policing to the extent of monitoring each and every move of the cricketer on and off the field during the course of a match seems practically not possible.

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC has certainly succeeded in containing the number of fixed matches or there was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s that nearly each and every other game involving certain countries raised a lot of questions.

But we can understand that even the ACU of the ICC has its own limitations. Obviously it can’t track the movement of the all the international cricketers. Neither can it expand its operations beyond certain areas.

Since spot-fixing is even more difficult to detect there’s not much the authorities could do to prevent. But yes they can bring down the number of cases by giving exemplary punishment to those found guilt.

Talking about punishment just as the ICC doesn’t have any mechanism in place to take the umpires to task when they make the most ridiculous of decisions in the field to bring the game to disrepute, I don’t think they have the authority or the will power to question the affiliated members if they appear to be a party.

There have been instances when the fingers have been pointed towards the cricket boards but the ICC has had no option but to close its eyes on such matters. In such a compromising scenario only an idiot can hope for a better future for the game.

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Steve Davis should be retired from ICC elite panel

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Contrary to what some people might think, for some strange reasons, the Indian cricketers remain more consistently at the receiving end than their contemporaries when it comes to the ICC rulings, be it a match referee or an umpire.

What umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor had done in the Sydney Test between Australia and India in 2008 to bring the game to disrepute was something unprecedented and unheard of.

What match referee Mike Denness had done in the South Africa-India series in 2001 jeopardized the future of the game as the two countries were forced to engage into an ‘unofficial’ Test match after so much of controversies.

In both the above incidents the team to be victimized was common. Not surprisingly the Indians were hard done by the ICC officials on both occasions.

Smaller or minor injustices do keep occurring once in a while and nearly every team gets affected but when it comes to something major or monumental we have the Indians to face the music.

Something similar happened on the fifth and final day of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad on November 8 when the Australia umpire, Steve Davis, committed ‘blunders’ on successive deliveries to create history of sorts.

I am not sure if the idea was to oblige the New Zealand captain, Daniel Vettori, or it was meant to hurt the Indian duo of VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan, Davis really made a mess of it on both occasions and it must leave a question mark about his future as an ICC umpire.

If Davis is unable to locate or hear those big inside edges then I am afraid he should not be standing in even a club match because it’s against the rules of the game to declare a batsman leg-before wicket if he hits the ball first.

What Davis was trying to do? Was he attempting to bring the match back to life as Laxman and Harbhajan Singh were in the process of saving it for India? By ruling Laxman and Zaheer out on successive deliveries, when neither of them could have been out, he certainly opened up the contest.

A minimum of 40 overs were still to be bowled with India 254 ahead when Davis made those two horrible decisions on successive deliveries of the 90th over of the innings by which time none of the New Zealand bowlers was threatening enough.

Davis provided the breakthrough to New Zealand and denied a thoroughly deserved century to Laxman. It was a big inside edge and the batsman was well and truly shocked. Zaheer couldn’t believe his luck either as the Australian umpire showed his power by another wrong call.

Harbhajan, who was at the non-striker’s end when Davis was on fire, also had a few words with the beneficiary, Vettori, who only smiled back.

Harbhajan was on the verge of completing his first Test hundred when Davis was striking those telling blows and he showed his distrust for the umpire by opting to clear the field instead of becoming his third victim of the day.

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ICC desires to keep Pakistan cricket afloat despite everything

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

International cricket has become a booming industry and the people running the show take it as pure business rather than anything else. There is hardly any element of patriotism or any other thing than business interest in the minds of the game’s administrators.

Cricket, by the look of things, is no more a gentleman’s game. Neither could one sense any feeling of pride among the cricketers while playing for the country. It’s all about money now.

No wonders the movers and shakers of the International Cricket Council (ICC) also work on their own agenda and they have a set of priorities that may not satisfy or thrill the cricket enthusiasts in different corners of the world.

The role of the ICC towards the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is also very clear. It’s not out of any passion or inclination towards them but it’s just due to necessity that the governing body of the game is not going to harm or hurt the interests of the Pakistan cricket.

It’s in their own interest that the ICC desires to keep the Pakistan cricket afloat despite all the issues of management or the lack of it. The ICC will do everything in its right to keep Pakistan going because they are not going to lose one of the biggest markets.

Obviously Pakistan is a big enough market and it would not be in the interests of the ICC to shrink their territory at a time when they are looking towards expansion and what they call globalization of the sport.

The ICC functionaries are well and truly aware of the fact that Pakistan is one country that has massive cricket following and the broadcasters as well as the advertisers need it in a big way.

In this context and the actions and inactions of the ICC are understandable. The ICC does give the impression that they are keeping a close eye on the affairs of Pakistan whereas they are least interested about what’s going on in this part of the world.

For public consumption or to fulfill some of their requirements they continue issuing a memo or two to the PCB which everybody knows is nothing more than an eyewash. The ICC is neither sympathetic to the cause of Pakistan nor do they oppose it. Their only concern is the Pakistan market which they get to promote and please their broadcasting partners.

Quite a funny statement came from the ICC the other day when their Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, was quoted to have certified that the PCB was showing a determination to protect the integrity of cricket.

He made the observation after the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team (PTT, headed by the ECB Chairman, Giles Clarke, met by teleconference on November 7 to receive an update on the progress being made by the Pakistan Cricket Board to ensure integrity of cricket.

‘The PCB has clearly recognized that it is imperative to protect the integrity of cricket and we are indeed impressed by the progress reported. Their willingness to play such an active role on the integrity issue is vital to the future of international cricket. They have shown a clear determination to tackle their challenges. The ICC Task Team is mindful of those challenges and is committed to supporting the PCB,” Haroon Lorgat added.

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ICC warning should serve as wake-up call for Ijaz Butt and protagonists

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Ijaz Butt has strong connections in the corridors of power and he has appeared least bothered about managing the affairs of Pakistan cricket in a professional career throughout his two-year tenure.

New records of nepotism and corruption have been created in his era and yet he has the burning desire to seek extension. He has brought the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at the brink of disaster. If he’s allowed to rule a little longer it will come as little surprise to find Pakistan touching new lows.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has issued a strict warning to the PCB to implement a series of measures to solve problems faced by the country’s cricket or risk sanctions.

“The PCB must act and be seen to be acting to uphold the zero-tolerance attitude to corruption in sport and conduct a thorough review of players’ integrity, educate them, implement a process and introduce an anti-corruption code in their domestic cricket,” the ICC said in a statement after their recent two-day board meeting in Dubai.

“If the PCB fails to carry out the above to the satisfaction of the board within the next 30 days, the board will consider what further action (including, if appropriate, sanctions) is required in the circumstances,” it said.

The Pakistan cricket was rocked by allegations of spot-fixing in during the recently concluded tour of England, resulting in two separate inquiries. The ICC has ruled there was no evidence of spot-fixing in the third one-day international between Pakistan and England last month but another inquiry, relating to the Lord’s Test against England in August, is pending.

The trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohamnmad Amir was provisionally suspended by the ICC after alleged to have taken money from a book-maker to deliberately bowl no-balls in a Test match.

A couple of the top former Pakistan cricket administrators were critical of the ICC for having warned the PCB to take extraordinary measures to avoid sanctions over alleged corruption.

“It is damning. It means that the ICC has publicly called that PCB has to regain confidence of the ICC, and put them under pressure to take serious steps,” Ehsan Mani, a former ICC President, was quoted as saying.

Khalid Mahmood, who headed the PCB for a brief period in 1999 when the organization had as many as five different chiefs, described the ICC warning was an insult to Pakistan.

“The ICC warning is an insult to the whole nation. This step of the ICC is an evidence of inability and incompetence of the PCB officials and they have clearly mishandled the whole situation,” he remarked in an interview.

“ICC has cleared Pakistan of any corruption in the Oval one-day, Scotland Yard has yet to level any charges on the Lord’s Test inquiry, under these circumstances the ICC warning is biased and unjustified,” he felt.

Both these gentlemen appeared justified in defending the integrity of the nation but they should also have publicly condemned Ijaz Butt to have brought Pakistan to this stage where anything could happen.

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Anti-Corruption Unit of ICC needs to keep an eye on England players too

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced to have launched an investigation into activities that took place during the third One-Day International between England and Pakistan at The Oval, London, on September 17.

Following the information received by the ICC from a British newspaper and its source, the ICC did act as it believed that a full investigation was warranted.

“A source informed The Sun newspaper that a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match and, broadly speaking, that information appeared to be correct,” ICC Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, remarked in his statement.

“We therefore feel it is incumbent upon us to launch a full enquiry into this particular game although it is worth pointing out at this stage that we are not stating as fact that anything untoward has occurred. Only in the fullness of the investigation can that be established,” he stated.

“We thank The Sun newspaper for its information and cooperation in this regard and we will work with its staff and sources to ensure the full truth surrounding this match is ascertained,” the ICC chief acknowledged.

“The ICC maintains a zero-tolerance approach to corruption in cricket and, as a matter of course, follows up on all credible information that is received, whatever the source. Any player or official found guilty of an offence will face the full rigour of our robust Anti-Corruption Code so that we can ensure the integrity of the sport is maintained,” he added.

The statement issued by Haroon Logart very clearly suggested that the ICC was alive to the situation and the media reports concerning the sensitive issue were being followed closely.

But I wonder if the Anti-Corruption Unit of ICC is performing its duties to the satisfaction of large number of the cricket enthusiasts spread over the various continents of the world.

It has become increasingly important for the ACU to adopt a proactive approach in order to prevent further damage to what was one understood to be the gentleman’s game. They have to play a significant role in restoring the confidence of the people who have been felt cheated and heart-broken by the numerous off the field events during the past few months in particular.

The ACU of the ICC should be credited for their damage-control measures when the situation was even worse than what is today in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the stories of match-fixing doing the rounds every other day.

Pakistan’s cricketers are currently under the scanner for the obvious reasons but the ACU officials should not lose sight of the fact that the lust for quick bucks can lure players of the other countries too.

England’s cricketers are thorough-bred professionals but they are human beings too. It’s important for the ACU to keep an eye on their activities too because the rewards for under-performing are believed to be phenomenal to say the least.

Fingers are being pointed towards the England players for having fared terribly to lose the third and fourth One-day Internationals after having won the first two. Many people suspect wrongdoings as to how a depleted, demoralized and broken Pakistan team has been allowed to square the series in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

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Condon warns against complacency

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Sir Paul Condon, having headed the ICC's new Anti-Corruption Unit (ACSU) for nearly a decade, feels that cricket would only have to get complacent for a few months or a couple of tournaments for those bad days to come back very quickly.

“I am certainly not leaving in a complacent frame of mind that everything is hunky dory, but I believe it is a different game with different attitudes and a different awareness these days, so I am pretty confident about the future, even though there's far more cricket now and it's more commercial,” he said while preparing to hand over his duties to the former Northern Ireland police chief, Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

Condon, who had a seven-year stint as the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had been appointed the head of the ACSU in October 2000, reckoned that there has been a seismic shift in attitude from players towards fixing in the last 10 years.

“If we go back to those bad old days of the late 1990s, it's easy to forget that cricket was pretty much in crisis. Its credibility was in threat, and so was its commercial viability. Sponsors were pulling out because it was clear there had been a whole series of fixed matches in every form of the game, from Test cricket to World Cup tournaments,” he said in an interview.

“The corrupters were literally going into the changing rooms, and in some instances were influencing team selection and ordering what events should happen on the field. One player contacted, and was contacted by, a fixer several hundred times in the course of a Test match, and no matter how friendly you are with someone, that's just not something you'd do. Now we have a regime in place of no use of mobile phones, and controlled access to changing rooms,” Condon remarked.

“There were some initial moans, but on the whole the players have been very supportive. They are aware of what can go wrong, but it's in their interests not to get sucked in. There is a lot of legitimate money around cricket these days, and players know full well that they don't need to get drawn into grubby deals for US$20,000 here or there,” he added.

He predicted that it might not be possible to entirely eradicate fixing from the game of cricket.

"It is a wonderful game, but if you were designing a game to fix, you would design cricket, because it is a whole series of discreet events, and every ball you can bet on. You can't guarantee a throw-in or a free kick in soccer, but if you're a corrupt player, you can guarantee to do certain things at key moments and if you can bet on that you can make a lot of money. Corruption in any walk of life, whether it's politics or business or sport, is about human frailty and weakness, and opportunity. Most cricketers are totally sound in their integrity, but one or two still mix with the wrong people,” he explained.

He maintained that Twenty20 cricket represented the biggest challenge to the integrity of cricket for probably 10 years.

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ICC should consider scrapping dead rubber games

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Yes the time has come for the governing body of the sport, the International Cricket Council (ICC), to find the ways and means to exercise better control over the dead rubber matches and the safest option could be scrapping them altogether.

The ICC has done a fine job by controlling, if not totally eliminating, the match fixing element that had threatened to ruin the game in the 1990s.

The ICC has introduced the incentives like the ranking points to keep the winning teams interested even after clinching the series but since the temptations to under-perform are understood to be too high to keep performing it has become imperative to come up with another damage-control measure.

It’s not meant to suggest that any team having surrendered the series can’t stage a comeback but expecting them to turn it around completely against the run of play certainly creates doubts in the minds of people.

Test matches, One-day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals are contested between countries and the national stake is involved. Obviously the ICC could not be held responsible for the apparent wrongdoings but being in a position to enforce law they should be persuaded to minimize the chances of foul play in the sport.

It looks quite astonishing even while taking into account the uncertainties of the game the manner in which some matches in full or in part appear to be moving according to a plot that defies logic.

Cricket, like any other sport, is more about momentum. If a team is good enough to win first three matches of a five-match series obviously it has all cards in its pocket and only something very dramatic can prevent them from completing a whitewash.

But when the team having been floored in the first three outings is allowed to win the remaining two matches of the series it would raise concerns and every avid follower of the game will bewildered by the outcome.

In any sport it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to stage any sort of comeback after being cornered or demolished. There is always a greater likelihood of the team down in the dumps to bite the dust further until the end of the series.

I think the ICC should probe into those series where the winning teams have let their opponents dominate the matches of academic interest.

I don’t think that the ICC could possess a mechanism to control the dead rubber matches. That’s why I believe that a strategy should be devised to cancel the remaining matches once the series has been decided.

Instead of a having a full five-match or seven-match series the ICC, can consider the option of introducing best of five or best of seven series. Even a best of three series would be better than a full three-match series.

Now it’s for the ICC to look into the aspects of negotiating with the broadcasters in the changed scenario. But I am sure they do have brainy and visionary individuals who can come up with proposals with the primary objective of saving the integrity of the game.

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ICC recognizes Asoka de Silva’s century of ODIs

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka was recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for having become only the 12th umpire to reach the milestone of standing in 100 One-day Internationals (ODIs).

He had completed his century when he stood in the fifth ODI between Australia and Pakistan in Perth on January 31. His feat, however, was acknowledged officially on February 19 when the ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat presented him a crystal plaque before the start of the Twenty20 International between Pakistan and England at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai Sports City.

“I am humbled and honoured to have completed a century of ODIs as an umpire. When I look at the umpires who are on this list, it makes me really proud as the group includes some of the most iconic names of this noble profession,” de Silva, having played international cricket for seven years, remarked.

He appeared in 10 Tests and 28 One-day Internationals but he had ordinary record as a leg-spinner and a lower-order batsman. He could claim only eight Tests at a very high cost and his performance in the ODIs was only marginally better. But he has made it big as an umpire.

“It would have been nice to have played more and therefore been more successful at international cricket but umpiring is another way of experiencing our great game while my cricketing background has helped me immensely in my umpiring career,” he observed.

“It has been a fascinating journey so far as I have been privileged to be part of a very strong, committed and professional group of umpires. And to stand in matches that feature the best cricketers of this era, is something I love and thoroughly enjoy,” the Sri Lankan umpire added.

He was inducted into the elite panel along with Steve Davis of Australia in April 2008 after having previously served on the panel between 2002 and 2004. While de Silva has umpired in 12 Tests and 24 ODIs since his return to the panel, Davis is just six ODIs away from becoming the fourth Australian and 13th overall to stand in 100 ODIs.

Rudi Koertsen of South Africa holds the distinction of having umpired in the highest number of ODIs (202) while Steve Bucknor of the West Indies stood in 181 ODIs. The late David Shepherd of England is next on the list having umpired in 172 games.

The Australian duo of Daryl Harper (161) and Simon Taufel (147) is expected to complete double century in not distant future as does Billy Bowden of New Zealand having already stood in 141 ODIs.

Australia’s Darrell Hair performed duties in 139 ODIs with Pakistan’s Aleem Dar not very far behind having umpired in 127 one-dayers. Russell Tiffin of Zimbabwe (111), David Orchard of South Africa (107) and Steve Dunn of New Zealand (100) had also completed century of ODIs as an umpire before de Silva did it earlier this year.

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Naeem-ul-Haq urges ICC to invest more for grassroots development

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

While appreciating the efforts of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in globalization of the sport, Naeem-ul-Haq, a former cricketer from Pakistan having relocated in the United States of America (USA), firmly believes that better results could be accomplished if more funds were allocated to the grassroots development.

“The ICC would be better off investing in the infrastructure development in countries where cricket remained a minority sport. I believe that in order to fast track their efforts they should enhance their grants to the member countries,” Naeem, one of the coaches of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), observed in an interview during his recent visit to Pakistan.

“I must say the ICC has been doing a fabulous job by funding the national cricket bodies of their member countries but I have a feeling that the results would start coming faster if they could directly take care of the various coaching programmes aimed at engaging the youngsters in particular,” he opined.

“The countries like USA, Canada, UAE and Hong Kong certainly need more funds to carry out their development programme. Since it’s not easy to get sponsors attracted to cricket in these countries, the ICC is expected to be more generous in extending financial support to them,” Naeem, who is the coach of the South East of the USACA covering the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, reckoned.

“I think cricket can flourish in these countries in particular if more work was done in promote the game at schools, colleges and universities. Cricket has a potential and a lot of hard work is needed besides deep pockets,” he added.

Naeem himself is one of those individuals having made standout contribution in the promotion of the sport in USA. Having started his career in his hometown Karachi, he played first-class cricket for his employers Pakistan Customs before who having relocated on the outskirts of Miami in Florida.

Naeem has been working hard for the promotion of the game from the moment he reached there. His passion for cricket kept growing and he undertook courses to become a qualified coach.

He, alongwith Raza Jaffri, has been instrumental in setting up the Florida Cricket Academy in Fort Lauderdale. They are being provided the technical and advisory support by the famed Karachi-based Customs Cricket Academy, founded by Jalaluddin, the first bowler to have recorded a hat-trick in One-day Internationals, who has also distinguished himself with his coaching skills on modern lines.

Naeem has also been actively involved with the Michigan Cricket Association (MCA), having worked closely with its President, Shahid Ahmed, who has also moved there from Karachi.


Both these gentlemen have been chief responsible for the success of the Diversity Cup that they have been able to hold successfully in Michigan for the past few years. It has become an annual event in which teams from different communities take part every summer. They have already finalized their plans to hold this year’s Diversity Cup in early July.

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Resurgence of bookies threatens cricket once more

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has to become more vigilant now in view of the recent ‘disclosures’ of the resurgence of the illegal bookmakers.

Sir Paul Condon, the Chairman of the ACSU, was absolutely right in having pointed out in the ICC meetings in Dubai and London during the last one year or so that the Twenty20 cricket posed the greatest corruption threat to the game since the dark days of the 1990s.

The Twenty20 tournaments, having been organized during the past couple of years, are believed to have provided the perfect opportunity to the bookmakers to renew their contacts in the cricket circles.

As we are discovering now, the bookmakers were not going to limit themselves to the Twenty20 events once they have re-established firm foothold in the cricket arena. The reports are filtering in, albeit very slowly, that attempts were being made to ‘fix’ the matches of longer duration as well.

The news has broken out the other day that the Australian team management filed a report with the ICC's ACSU after a player was approached by a man suspected of links to illegal bookmaking.

It was reported that the approach was made in the bar of the team's London hotel, the Royal Kensington Garden, following Australia's Ashes defeat at Lord's in July. The matter is reportedly under investigation.

The Australian player was believed to have informed the senior officials immediately and, following ICC protocol, team manager Steve Bernard filed a report with the ACSU.

Not very long ago there were reports that some of the Pakistan players had been approached by illegal bookmakers at their team hotel in Colombo during their recent tour of Sri Lanka. The matter was investigated by the ACSU. The ICC's Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, declared that there was absolutely no substance to those reports.

"The ICC and its members have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption and rightly so because the integrity of our sport with its spirit is one of its greatest assets. On that basis it is entirely appropriate that any suggestions in relation to that subject are always reported to and properly investigated by the ACSU. I am pleased those investigations have indicated nothing untoward has taken place on this occasion but it is a reminder that all of us - players, officials and supporters - must maintain our vigilance to ensure we remain on top of the issue of corruption,” he was quoted as saying.

Haroon Lorgat and his team at the ICC, however, cannot be expected to sit idle because the matter is very serious indeed and it threatens the future of the game once more. If strict measures are not taken the game could suffer even more than what was witnessed in the 1990s because of the presence of so many communication tools these days.

The ICC should not be making any compromises on this issue because this concerns the future of the game.

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Where’s ICC Anti-Corruption Unit?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) that suspected bookmakers were staying on the same floor as the Pakistan players in the team hotel in Colombo.
Salim Altaf, the PCB's Chief Operating Officer (COO), was quoted as saying that the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the ICC had a representative in Sri Lanka who was looking into it.

"He will obviously report back to the ICC and I see this taking some time. We will wait for his report," he was reported to have said.

The PCB had approached the ICC after Pakistan lost the three-match Test series as well as the five-match ODI with a couple of one-dayers still to be played during their ongoing tour of Sri Lanka.

Back home Pakistan’s successive defeats in Sri Lanka were being viewed with shock and suspicion because the triumph in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England was fresh in minds of the people.

The ICC didn’t waste time in acknowledging the report being received from the PCB as one of their spokesmen, Brian Murgatrord, confirmed that the body was aware of the issue at the hotel.
"We can confirm the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit is aware of the matter and will deal with it as appropriate," he was quoted as saying.

The ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit would have hardly got any time to deliberate on the issue before the last two ODIs produced the most unexpected of results and there were people believing that there’s something fishy in the turn of the events.

Sri Lanka, having won the first three ODIs so convincingly to seal the series, lost the last two games with the heaviest of margins thus taking everyone by surprise.

Not sure if the Sri Lankan cricket authorities would be interested in pursuing the matter but it’s for the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit to have a re-look at the events of the last two ODIs in particular.

It’s hard to comprehend a team, having excelled in the earlier part of the series, playing so unprofessionally or loosely to bring about massive defeats upon themselves. Obviously it’s not easy even to lose a match by a heavy margin and a lot of effort is needed for this exercise as well.

The figures do tell a story. Sri Lanka won the first ODI by 36 runs while defending a total of 232. After routing Pakistan for 168, the hosts won the second game by six wickets with 38 balls remaining. Pakistan posted a total of 288 in the third ODI but Sri Lanka romped home by six wickets with 21 balls in hand.

The most dramatic of turnarounds then began. Pakistan, helped by 29 wides, reached a score of 321 in the fourth game. It was a perfect batting strip of R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and the hosts were expected to give a befitting reply. But they bundled themselves out for 175 in 36.1 overs to lose the match by a staggering margin of 146 runs.

The history of the previous game was repeated in the fifth and final ODI at the same venue with the hosts crashing to 147 all out in 34.2 overs while chasing a target of 280 to lose the match by 132 runs.

Cricket remains an unpredictable game but why it becomes so predictable at times is anybody’s guess. The ICC must ensure greater discipline and stricter laws should be enforced to counter such events that bring the game to disrepute.

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PCB’s belated move to challenge ICC

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

As they say better late than never. The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, has stood up to challenge a decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) taken  a few weeks ago. It appears as if the PCB took their time in assessing the pros and cons before finally deciding to act.

The ICC, in their board meeting in Dubai on April 17, had decided to strip Pakistan of hosting rights for the next World Cup because of the uncertain security situation in the country.

"It is a regrettable decision but our number one priority is to create certainty and deliver a safe, secure and successful event and the uncertainty created by events within Pakistan created a huge question mark over our ability to do just that,." the ICC President, David Morgan, had said in the statement issued after the meeting.

Now the PCB Chairman, after having spent some time in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has changed his tone and is using a different language against the governing body of the tone.

Ijaz Butt, in a media briefing at the Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore, the headquarters of Pakistan, upon his return from the UAE, came down hard at the ICC decision.

He was highly critical of the manner in which the ICC decision was taken describing it as "legally flawed...unfair and discriminatory" announcing that Pakistan intended to fight for its right as co-hosts for the mega event. The PCB has also issued a legal notice to the ICC.

"We are most concerned about the manner in which the ICC took this decision, There was no notice prior to the meeting that a decision of this nature would be taken. There was neither proper security assessment of Pakistan nor of the other co-hosts of the 2011 Tournament. We believe that more could and should have been done to review the actual situation to deal with the matter on a non-discriminatory basis. We will push for the matter to be expedited," Ijaz Butt announced.

The PCB Chairman claimed that the status of the 2011 World Cup was not on the original agenda of the ICC Board meeting on April 17 and 18 implying that Pakistan wasn't given a fair opportunity to defend its case as a co-host. 

"This issue was not on the agenda. There was a discussion of the Sri Lankan attacks on the agenda and this topic came up. They never gave us notice and it was not on the agenda. We want to revoke the decision full stop," he added.

The PCB Chairman was of the opinion that there was also uncertain security environments in the other co-hosts, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and that provisions were in place for such decisions to be taken as late as 18 months before an ICC event, something that would have given the board time to prepare a security plan and for inspections to be carried out. 

Talking about the legal notice, Ijaz Butt clarified that it has been sent to the ICC President David Morgan and was in accordance with the ICC's constitution as the PCB was asking for the matter to be referred to the disputes resolution committee. 

"The matter has been submitted to the President of the ICC's dispute resolution committee. He can either refer the matter to the dispute resolution committee which is made up of ICC's officials or to the independent arbitration before the court of arbitration sport court. The PCB preferred impartial arbitration in the interest of justice, equity and fairplay," Ijaz Butt remarked.

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