15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

LAHORE, Jan 14: The new constitution of the board will be ready for implementation by April 30, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ad hoc chairman Shaharyar M. Khan assured the Senate Standing Committee on Sports on Friday.

"In case of a failure I'll resign," the PCB chairman said when Senator Enver Baig told him that he had been delaying the matter since Aug 10 last and that what would be the next step if he failed again.

Senate body chairman Chaudhary Zafar Iqbal also assured Enver that the PCB chief looked sincere in implementing the constitution as he had held a meeting with the chairman of the constitution committee Justice (retd) Karamat Nazir Bhandari.

The PCB constitution is not in effect since 1999 and all the affairs are being run on ad hoc basis. "A constitution is essential to put all things of the board in place but I don't know why a considerable delay has been caused," Enver said.

The senator said that he had talked to one of the most distinguished lawyers of the country S.M. Zafar who could do the job within two weeks. Former Test captain Majid Khan, who also attended the meeting, questioned the move of drafting a new constitution in the presence of the old one.

"When the old constitution had served well there is no reason in making a new one," Majid said. Mr Enver also raised a question that the PCB had signed the contract with coach Bob Woolmer on July 2, but the PCB chairman did not provide the copy of the contract to the committee on Aug 10, saying it had not been signed so far.

"Did PCB chairman tell a lie before the committee," Enver asked. The chairman denied the charge and said the contract was lying with the PCB legal department and he could not produce it until getting it cleared from them.

The PCB chairman said that a detailed report regarding the sale of tickets during the home series against India held in March-April last year had been prepared and handed over to all the members of the committee, provided before the start of the meeting.

Enver asked if the list carried the names of those provided free tickets during the matches was attached, the PCB chairman claimed all was in that document. However, the committee chairman said that since no one could read the report in detail the members could make their comments on this issue in their individual reports.

The PCB chairman also assured that a summarized report on the ticketing issue would also be released to the media in next couple of days. To a question from Enver, the PCB chairman informed that an amount of $3.7million was in a joint account titled PILCOM, as income of the World Cup, jointly hosted by Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in 1996.

PCB had received an amount of $3.7 million but it had an equal share in the remaining amount which would be received after PILCOM won legal cases pending with Indian courts over the issues of taxes, the chairman said.

Enver put another question saying according to a PCB's document sent to him, Pakistan senior team was ranked fifth both in Test and ODIs and asked what was the progress during one year, the chairman said that it would take around two years to improve.

"No one can change the fortune in days and I believe the decisions taken by him will produce result in next couple of years," he said. Enver, a vocal member of the committee suggested to the committee chairman that the senate committee should make a recommendation that only a professional should run the board.

"The current board has no professional and is full of diplomats who can't run this institution. When the people like Majid Khan are available who knows the basics of the game and has a stature what is the need to hand over the game to those who played only at club level," he said.

The federal sports minister Ajmal Khan, expressed his concern about the Pakistan senior team. "The current team doesn't look like a team as it has no fighting spirit and the will to win. It also lacks leadership," he said.

The minister said that if Imran Khan could play after taking injections in World Cup-1992 why Inzamam could not. He suggested the board that it should form a panel of former great cricketers to get a basic guideline from them.

Earlier, PCB chairman gave an overview of the performance of the board during his one year tenure. He admitted that the Pakistan senior team could not perform in the Test series against Australia.

The PCB chairman said that the basic reason behind it was the domestic structure of the country. "Our players are not familiar with normal cricket (four or five-day cricket) and are used to limited overs at club levels, therefore, they are not able to stay at the crease for a longer time," he claimed.

Defending the decision of hiring Woolmer as coach, he said all Asian countries had foreign coaches and they were giving positive results. "Dav Whatmore had given Sri Lanka their first ever World Cup and now under his coaching the Bangladesh team is improving," he said.

He said that his management inherited various problems and was making efforts to remove all the shortcomings. Another member Mrs Razina Alam Khan also suggested the board should have a panel of former cricketers as advisors.

She said that the PCB had prepared good plans but urged to get them implemented instead of putting in cold storage. The chairman committee also suggested the board should have a panel of former cricketers. However, another member Kamil Ali Agha added that only those former cricketers should be taken who were not involved in any wrong doings in the past.