Pakistan: Cricket board seeks council's opinion (3 Sep 1998)

3 September 1998

Cricket board seeks council's opinion

By Samiul Hasan

KARACHI, Sept 2: Three Pakistan cricketers, accused of being involved in betting and match-fixing, may remain suspended from all levels of cricket until cleared by investigating committees.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has contacted its executive council and is seeking their approval before making a move.

The PCB dispatched letters to its 10 councillors on Tuesday in which they have asked their opinions in the backdrop of Senate Standing Committee's recommendations to ignore those players for the Sahara Cup and suspend them until the investigations were over.

The board is expecting the answers from all its council members by Friday. "Until, we get their (council's) response on the letters, the team (for the Sahara Cup) would not be announced," a spokesman of the cricket board said.

Not only has the executive council been contacted in writing by the cricket board, a similar letter has also been delivered to chairman of selectors, Wasim Bari. In the letter Bari has been informed that the delay in the announcement of the team was because of the council's required approval.

Three cricketers, including two former captains, were named by the PCB probe committee in its interim report that was submitted to the executive council on Aug 16. The same document was made available to the Senate committee on Aug 22.

While the executive council gave the PCB probe committee a three-month time to complete investigations, the Senate's Standing Committee on Sports proposed that the players should remain suspended until inquires were completed.

Of the three players, two were picked in the Sahara Cup team that awaits official announcement. If the executive council approves Senate's suggestion, the selection committee will be asked to name those players' replacements.

A highly placed PCB official, refusing to be quoted, said the executive council was the higher tier of the cricket board and no decision can be taken without its consent.

He added that the executive council had earlier approved a provisional list for the Sahara Cup which carried contained the names of the three cricketers. "Now they are the competent authority to reverse their own decision."

Investigations reveal that to earn executive council's nod, lobbying has started. An unconfirmed report said six councillors have decided to support Senate's recommendations.

A councillor said the players should be suspended because they have been found guilty according to investigations carried out within the establishment.

However, another councillor opined that the players should not be suspended because they were not cross-examined.

"Two of the three accused have not been questioned by the probe committee. Justice demands that they should also be heard before being labelled as culprits," he said.

A cricket board source said if the executive council voted against suspension of the three players, they would be directly answerable to the Senate committee headed by Justice Javed Iqbal.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)