December 2, 2003	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1424

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When news came on Sunday that the dispute between PTV and Geo has been resolved and both the channels will telecast the second one-dayer, cricket lovers felt elated and the decision, which came after the intervention by President Pervez Musharraf, was welcomed. What a pity that for a minor issue like telecast of a cricket match had to be sorted out by the president of the country.

The immediate popular reaction was that “all is well that ends well”. However, it was not before we had washed our dirty linen in the public and the country was made a laughing stock among the comity of cricket playing countries.

It is a shame that such a controversy should have surfaced at a time when Pakistan cricket team is to tour New Zealand after this series and then we will host the long-awaited tour of Indian team.

But the joy was not to last long. Come Monday and the second one-dayer had hardly been in progress for about an hour that a private TV channel announced that Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Lt Gen (retd) Tauqir Zia has resigned.

What is significant and to some extent baffling, is the timing the PCB chief chose for calling it a day — in between a controversy-ridden home series. During the last two weeks the visit of the New Zealanders had been some times off, sometimes on. Then the decision of some of their star players, including skipper Stephen Fleming, not to come to Pakistan for fitness and “ security” reasons had slightly dampened the spirits of Pakistani cricket fans. Finally when they had arrived erupted the row between the two channels. And now last but not the least the PCB chief has resigned.

This is Gen.Tauqir Zia’s second resignation. He had withdrawn the first one on the wish of the president.

Later in the afternoon, Gen Zia told a news conference in Lahore, “Yes, I have resigned from my post because four years is a long period for which I was in charge. I have other things to do in my life.” He also confirmed that President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the patron of PCB, has accepted his resignation. However, Tauqir stressed he was not forced to resign but many believe that the television fiasco was a factor, as well as the controversial inclusion of his son Junaid Zia in the national team earlier.

When his hand-picked chief of selectors, Aamir Sohail, again included Junaid in the team that was to play against New Zealand, Tauqir asked Aamir to exclude his son from the team. He probably sensed that it was a trap and Junaid playing at the cost of some senior and more experienced player would invite a spate of criticism.

No one was named his successor till the time these lines were being written. One hopes that whoever is assigned to head the PCB learns from the mistakes of his predecessor.

The next chairman of the board will have to do a lot of cleaning of the mess that has accumulated during the last four years. The cricket body has been made to top heavy with dozens of managers, general managers and directors getting fat salaries and perks of royalty. This has to be curtailed.

In the last four years the PCB experimented with as many as 11 captains and an equal number of coaches. This not only caused heart-burning and frustration but it seriously affected discipline and team spirit. Experienced, knowledgeable and men of integrity were ignored while those who had neither commitment to the game nor the knowledge and foresight were assigned the job of selecting the teams.

All that is history now. One hopes that a man with commitment to the game is given the charge to run the PCB.