A bad board blames its players

A PCB official has told Cricinfo that the players are responsible for this situation and were given a booklet explaining what is legal and what is illegal. This game of passing the buck is deplorable and offers a wonderful insight into why the PCB stumbles from one disaster to another.

Even the most highly educated individuals fail to absorb the majority of information delivered to them in seminars and booklets. Few people could tell you every ingredient in what they have eaten. Few patients have a good idea of the drugs they are being administered.

Asif and Shoaib might be utterly to blame but then again they might not and Shoaib has already protested his innocence.

This premature damnation from the PCB is embarrassing and it contrasts sharply with the message that Younis Khan and Bob Woolmer are sending out that the players, management, and administration must accept collective responsibility. The PCB should hold its tongue until it has got to the bottom of this sorry affair, an affair that has done much more damage to Pakistan cricket and the team's chances of winning the World Cup than the previous two disasters.