Pakistan will be in the Netherlands, but not the side the PCB wants

Pakistan will be represented at next week's women's tournament in the Netherlands, despite the fact that the Pakistan Cricket Board's team will not be taking part.

One of the messiest situations in world cricket, albeit domestic, has not been resolved despite the best intentions of Pakistan's judiciary, and cricket administrators on both sides of a bitter row that has broken out in Pakistan over who has the right to run the women's game in that country. A team chosen by the PCB was refused entry into the Netherlands competition, and would not have been able to compete anyway because it was refused visas to the Netherlands.

This was because the International Women's Cricket Council continues to recognise the Pakistan Women's Cricket Control Association as the body most representative of women's cricket in that country and had sent the invitation to compete to them.

IWCC president Christine Brierley, who will see her Council vote next week on whether they should be integrated into the International Cricket Council, said the PWCCA team was expected to participate as they, like the other competing countries, had paid their entry fee.

"I have received no legal advice at this point of time that says that the legal action brought by the PWCCA against the PCB has been resolved," Brierley said. "I also have received no official government statement that advises the IWCC that the PWCCA is no longer the recognised body to represent the interests of Pakistan women's cricket. This is an essential requirement of IWCC membership."

Curiously, the PCB perceived an enquiry from Brierley to them regarding the outcome of legal consultation between the parties in the dispute as a signal that some sort of impasse had been overcome.

But Brierley said that both the parties in Pakistan had been told that a report on the dispute was to be discussed at the IWCC's next meeting on July 24.

"We cannot cease or change membership of the IWCC unless it complies with the IWCC rules and the PWCCA membership is assessed according to the criteria of membership. Both the PCB and the PWCCA have a copy of the criteria of membership. It does not assist world cricket and the IWCC to be continually involved in what is essentially a domestic matter for Pakistan cricket," she said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board's reaction to their side's exclusion from the tournament has been to demand that the PWCCA side not be allowed to use the word Pakistan to describe themselves at the tournament.

Trouble between the two parties has been ongoing since last year when the Pakistan High Court ruled that the PCB was the body best suited to run women's cricket and asked that the two bodies get together to sort the matter out. However, when the PCB started arranging trial matches an approach to the Court by the PWCCA achieved agreement that the PCB had acted outside of its mandate.

The situation flared again recently when the PCB claimed that a resolution had been achieved. However, the PWCCA claimed the PCB was guilty of contempt of court.

One of the organisers of the PWCCA, Shaiza Khan, took the PCB to task for what she claimed were "totally wrong and absolutely baseless" comments. She accused the PCB of "intransigence" over its treatment of court orders and said it appeared "to be demonstrating a sense of utter irresponsibility."

A restraining order had been placed on the PCB by the High Court of Mr Sana Ateeq Khan. When the PCB appeared to break that order by claiming differences had been resolved the PWCCA then asked for a contempt of court to be considered.