October 05, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 11, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 4: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ad-hoc committee expressed its concern at the recent poor performances of the National under-19 outfit against India in the home series as well as the loss of Sialkot Region against Uttar Pardesh in the inaugural Mohammad Nisar Trophy at Dharamsala in a high-level meeting here on Wednesday.

Taking up the two shock failures of Pakistan’s young cricketers in the meeting, held at PCB’s headquarters in Gaddafi Stadium, the committee members felt there was urgent need to review the coaching and selection process of junior teams in the next few days in order to resurrect the dwindling fortunes of Pakistan cricket.

Besides reviewing other vital issues pertaining to Pakistan cricket, the committee also received an in-depth briefing from the board chairman Shaharyar Khan on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct hearing of skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq by Ranjan Madugalle on Sept 27-28.

Welcoming the ICC chief referee’s decision on the ball tampering accusation, the committee felt that it was a fair verdict from the ICC adjudicator which fully exonerated the Pakistan team of alleged malpractice on the field as accused by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove at the Oval Test early last month. The members of the committee endorsed PCB’s proposal to the ICC for an investigation of umpire Hair’s conduct over The Oval forfeit.

The ad-hoc committee unanimously decided that the PCB should contest the England and Wales Cricket Board claim (USD 1.5 million (0.8 million pound sterling) for loss of revenue at The Oval through its lawyers.

Chaired by Shaharyar Khan, the meeting was attended by committee members including Dr Nasim Ashraf, former Test cricketer Imtiaz Ahmed, Syed Ali Reza, Mueen Afzal and Director Cricket Operations, Salim Altaf.

Pinning its complete faith in the leadership qualities of Inzamam, currently serving a four-ODI ban for bringing the game into disrepute in the fourth Test against England, the committee decided that the burly batsman will resume his captaincy tenure in the home series against the West Indies later this year.

His deputy Younis Khan, meanwhile, will lead the side in the month-long ICC Champions Trophy which commences in India from Oct 7. With the PCB’s plans of launching a dedicated sports channel of its own now taking shape, the committee observed that a feasibility report of the same should be circulated before the next meeting so that a decision in principle could be made on the project.