Butt 'too old' to be PCB chairman - Miandad

Javed Miandad, a former Pakistan captain, has written a letter to the country's president, Asif Ali Zardari, in which he has criticised Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan board chairman, for being "too old" to hold a position of such importance. Zardari, who is also the patron of the PCB, had appointed 71-year-old Butt as chairman in 2008 in place of Nasim Ashraf.

"The chairman has become too old for the position he is holding as he seldom remembers his own important official commitments and agreements," Miandad, who is currently a PCB director general, wrote in a letter seen by Cricinfo. "Most of the staff working under the chairman, including many directors, are fed up with his style of working; evidence of which is that many directors have left their jobs during his tenure."

Aamer Sohail, the PCB's director of academies, Salim Altaf, the chief operating officer, and Abdul Qadir, the chief selector, all resigned in 2009 because of differences with Butt. Miandad also quit in January 2009 before accepting the post of director general and returning, though his relationship with Butt has been frosty since; the pair recently exchanged bitter words publicly over Miandad's salary. Incidentally, Miandad was also appointed to the board by Zardari, as the former captain acknowledges in the letter.

"The chairman is being disapproved by the whole nation," Miandad wrote. "Pakistan cricket is in real bad shape and the whole nation is looking towards me to be the saviour of their favourite sport. But unfortunately the chairman PCB is not willing to take me along and he has sidelined me for reasons only known to him."

The Pakistan team is currently in Australia where they have had terrible results, losing the Test series 3-0 and the ODIs 5-0.