Second leaked letter embarrasses ICC

The ICC has expressed its concern that a second private letter to Wasim Bari, the chairman of the Pakistan selection committee, has been leaked to the press. The correspondence, from the ICC's general manager of corporate affairs Brendan McClements to Bari, expressed regret over the publication of an earlier private letter from Malcolm Speed, ICC's chief executive, reprimanding Bari over his outburst about David Shepherd's umpiring in the recent Videocon Cup final in Holland.

But many Pakistanis were still questioning how the ICC had inadvertently made the first letter public to the press, with some ex-players suggesting it had been done deliberately. One melodramatically claimed: "It is a conspiracy to humiliate Bari and Pakistan." Omar Kureishi, a noted columnist, also criticised the leak and the admonitory nature of the letter. Sources also suggested that the ICC had sent an apology to Bari only after being made aware that he could have taken legal action against them for the way it handled the letter. The ICC has denied any knowledge of that.

Asked how the first letter had been accidentally leaked to the press, McClements told Wisden Cricinfo, "I'm not going to go into that. But what I've seen today is another private letter being made public, and I think there is no point going over private correspondence."

Ehsan Mani, the ICC's president, was more forthcoming. He told us: "Unfortunately, the first letter was made public by the ICC. It was a private letter to Bari, but somewhere along the line, our PR people got their wires crossed. Normally when we take action over Code of Conduct issues, we try to be as transparent and open as possible about what we are doing. The PR people didn't realise that this was a private letter and it was made available to some journalists in London."

Mani went on: "We were at fault and we've been honest enough to admit this. There has been a strong reaction in Pakistan and understandably so, but we have to put Shepherd's performance into perspective. Many people might recall that Pakistan's victory over England in the Old Trafford Test of 2001 also had a couple of crucial errors by the same umpire." (In that match Shepherd had overlooked a couple of wicket-taking no-balls as Pakistan romped to victory on the last evening.)

But Mani wasn't aware how the second letter, from McClements, had also been leaked. "We have not released this and I am not sure how it has become public in Pakistan. We don't know who would have done this. After speaking to Bari myself, I asked Brendan to write to him expressing our regret." The existence of the second letter, says the ICC, was known only by a handful of people, before it was leaked.

To further cloud matters, there was confusion in sections of the Pakistani press about the second letter. Some reported, incorrectly, that Bari himself had made the first letter public.

Mani revealed that the ICC has also drafted plans to tighten the loopholes in the current code of conduct. Bari is not a paid employee of the Pakistan Cricket Board, as he works in an honorary capacity, and there was therefore confusion over whether the ICC could take any action over his comments. Mani said: "The Code of Conduct does include selectors. But what we were unclear about - which is why he didn't receive an official reprimand - was because although it covers team officials, managers and players, the position of chief selector, and an honorary one, is unique. The regulations regarding this are vague at the moment, but at our upcoming ICC meeting in Lahore, the management will put forward a proposal to cover selectors as well."