Serious reservations expressed

Karachi, Oct 21: The ad hoc committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had expressed serious reservations while approving the 16-man squad for the Australian tour on Wednesday.

Javed Zaman Khan, a member of the committee, told Dawn from Lahore that he had objected on the selection of a couple of players.

"I don't want to go into the details but I had asked the selectors to reconsider the decisions against some players," he said without going into the details.

However, well placed sources said Javed Zaman had objected on the selection of Ghulam Ali, Ijaz Ahmad and Mushtaq Ahmad while he had questioned the exclusion of Aamir Sohail, Hasan Raza and Waqar Younis.

Sources in the cricket board secretariat confirmed to Dawn that it had received the team from Sharjah well after 6:00pm (P.S.T) though the team had been released about 90 minutes before in the desert city.

"We had been instructed by the selectors to release the team. Javed Zaman, on his own, called the chairman of selectors who failed to convince him about the selection of some players. Javed Zaman was very upset after the explanations given by the chief selector," sources in the cricket board said.

Sources, who overheard the conversation between Javed Zaman and Col.Naushad Ali, said the ad hoc committee member had said Ijaz and Mushtaq Ahmad were controversial figures.

They added that Javed Zaman had further argued the selection of Ghulam Ali saying that the batsman had been tried and tested before being finally sidelined five years ago.

"The chief selector, who agreed to Javed Zaman, admitted that the captain (Wasim Akram) wanted the three players in the team and the selectors had no choice but the agree to his demands," they said.

Sources said Javed Zaman was later heard saying that the selectors were not following a uniform policy and he was only approving the team because he believed that the selection committee was an independent body.

When Javed Zaman was asked whether he took approval of the team from his colleagues, he said: "The team was faxed to me and I approved it."

There was serious resentment amongst the two remaining members of the ad hoc committee (Hafiz Manzoor Husain and Hanif Mohammad) who minced no words in saying that they were not being consulted in policy decisions.

"We don't agree with the team and since we didn't approve it, the onus of its failure in Australia will lie purely on the selectors and the captain," sources quoted them as saying.