Defiant Butt won't step down

	Ijaz Butt: "Why should I resign... I enjoy the confidence of the chief patron of the board" © PA Photos Enlarge

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has brushed aside calls for his sacking by senators of the standing committee on sports. Butt said he continues to have the support of president Asif Ali Zardari, the board's patron.

Following a six-hour grilling of PCB officials in Islamabad, the committee asked the president dissolve the PCB because it was "incapable" of running cricket.

However, Butt said he had no intention to step down from the post which he took up last October. "Why should I resign... I enjoy the confidence of the chief patron of the board," he said. "My team and I are doing everything to streamline cricket affairs in the country and for this we need some time. We can't produce results overnight."

Butt said he will clear matters by briefing the press. "I think some people have misrepresented facts of the proceedings at the Senate hearing. I will try to set the record straight at my conference," Butt said. "The situation in the board is not as gloomy and bad as is being made out after the senate hearing. I will also disclose some facts about what is happening."

Butt also admitted it would be difficult for him to work with Javed Miandad after their face-off at the recent senate hearing. Butt appointed Miandad as the PCB's director-general in November but the former captain quit last month after being offered a contract he wasn't happy with. Butt said he would leave it to the board's governing council to restore Miandad's contract or offer him a new one.