28 October 2004	Thursday	13 Ramazan 1425

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FOR the last one year the Pakistan Cricket Board has been under the stewardship of one of the senior-most former bureaucrats in the country , Shaharyar M. Khan. But as good students do not make good teachers it is always not necessary that a veteran diplomat will be an efficient cricket boss.

To manage cricket which has become an industry today is not cut out for former nawabs and diplomats who are in any case well past the age of superannuation.

Which brings us to the question: Is cricket in Pakistan being destroyed systematically and diplomatically with the help of foreign aid and assistance in the shape of Bob Woolmer, "the excuse" coach assisted by a half a dozen foreign experts engaged on fabulous salaries.

The PCB chairman has over the last few months amply demonstrated his undue hurry in making announcements and then equally hurriedly withdrawing them; either he does this as part of his diplomatic skills or is a case of intentional amnesia. The examples are many and frequent to illustrate the erratic trend of thought; and the deeds never keeping up with the words.

On assumption of the office of chairman he had envisaged sweeping reforms on procedures, administration, structure, marketing and organization. Every post would be advertised with merit being the only criterion was bold declaration.

Unfortunately he had done the opposite and inducted his former septuagenarian friend as a marketing consultant and a retired ex-collegue as media and protocol consultant on astronomical renumerations.

Another promise the PCB boss made was the all-important constitution which is still to see the light of day; commissions have been formed; sat and done precious little. In the time already consumed constitutions for half the globe could have been drafted and enforced; but is the will there? Or are these just promises? The same is the case of audit of accounts.

When the management is weak; and it has never been weak in the half century of the PCB, indiscipline all around becomes rampant. That is exactly what is happening at the moment. Pakistan cricket today has become a laughing stock due to the blundering PCB officials and errant players with their on-and-off-the- pitch activities.

This has also affected the team and the continued decline in the performance of the side.

The board having spent millions of rupees on foreign and our own batting experts but we are still groping for an opening pair after the Saeed Anwar/ Aamir Sohail partnership as well as a number three batsman to replace stylish Zaheer Abbas, one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has produced.

Our selectors and team management have toyed and tinkered with various permutations and combinations both in Tests and ODIs but no one has been on a permanent basis. We are ruining our youngsters. Bazid Khan was pushed to open the innings when he is a middle order batsman and now Asim Kamal was made to bat one down despite he was proven success as a number six batsman against the Indians.

The spinning cupboard is bare. No left arm spinner since Iqbal Qasim, no leg- spinner since Abdul Qadir (with apologies to Danish Kaneira), no off-spinner since Saqlain Mushtaq are on the horizon. And our battery of speed merchants are either injured or of suspect action.

The coach and the manager are vital jobs and the PCB seems to change them as frequently as some people change shirts.Today our team manager is a person who seems to just enjoy his salary and perks and act as an assistant to the coach.

In between PCB hired half a dozen "on holiday" batting coaches costing US$50,000 for a week. Some of them even coached while attired a tie and jacket.

Now we have Woolmer whose main claim to fame is that he is an Englishman, very suave and smooth at making tall claims and excuses. Woolmer blamed the points system for Colombo debacle, loss to West Indies in the Champions Trophy for taking dictation from "higher source", home tri-nation defeat on batting, bowling, fielding, players still not yet accostomed to the idea of winning crucial matches and finally the Faisalabad rout on too much ODIs. And with the all-powerful coach who could do no wrong the selection committee is toeing the line of the team management.

It is surprising that only Moin Khan has been dropped from the team claiming his poor batting form the reason for his ouster. Being a specialist keeper it is wrong to make Moin the scapegoat while the main batsmen who let the team down are still in the team.

With due apologies the chief selector, himself a specialist wicketkeeper, would never have donned the Pakistan green cap if his batting had been taken into consideration.

During his five-year stint as South Africa's coach, Woolmer's only achievement was to win the inaugural Champions Trophy in Dhaka when the republic had such great players as Hansie Cronje, Shaun Pollock, Gary Kirsten, Darryl Cullinan, Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes, Craig McMillan, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis.

If this team was coached by "my grandmother" it would have won any tournament. Woolmer was an utter failure in the two World Cups and his charges got the tag of chokers after the 1999 tournament and that eventually led to his "diplomatic" resignation as the coach of South Africa.

So, currently Woolmer's main claim to fame is his use of the laptop computer; get a Chinese coach and he will do a better job on the still useful abacus.

Now time has come for a total shake-up of the PCB as the present ad hoc chairman and the coach appear to be on course to inflict further damage the cause of the country's most popular sport; otherwise there will be a hue and cry to put a ban - at least temporary - on cricket in Pakistan.

The writer is a former chief selector of Pakistan cricket team.