Pakistan board rejects England compensation claim
The Pakistan Cricket Board has, as expected, rejected a claim for compensation totaling around £800,000 lodged by the ECB in relation to the abandonment of the Oval Test in August.
Cricinfo staff
06-Oct-2006
 |
|
The ECB was looking to recoup losses it incurred resulting from Pakistan's forfeiture of the match. It had to reimburse people who had bought tickets for the final day, and it also handed a 40% refund to ticket holders who attended the curtailed fourth day.
The ECB declined to comment on the grounds that its correspondence with the PCB was confidential. However, a spokesman for the PCB told The Times: "We have decided to contest the claim legally as the Pakistan board was not responsible for the Test not being completed."
The PCB has maintained ever since Inzamam-ul-Haq was cleared of ball-tampering that the blame for the early end to the Test lay with the umpires, especially Darrell Hair, as it was their decision which set in motion a chain of events that led to the forfeiture. As a consequence, the PCB argues that, as Hair's employers, the ICC is ultimately responsible.
The ECB's position is that whatever the rights and wrongs of the original action, Inzamam was to blame for Pakistan refusing to take the field - an offence he was punished for following the hearing - and that makes the PCB liable to make good losses.
The matter is now likely to be raised when the ICC executive board meets in Mumbai early next month. It an agreement cannot be reached then, the likely next step is arbitration, months of deliberation and quite possibly more legal bills.