October 09, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 15, 1427

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KARACHI, Oct 8: Senator Enver Baig has said that the country's cricket had been messed up beyond redemption with the appointment of Dr Nasim Ashraf as the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"It is clear case of favouritism that has nothing to do with merit" he said in a statement on Sunday.

He said that the new chairman of the board had already started making knee jerk decisions and further messing up the sport by reappointing Younis Khan as the team captain just three hours before the departure of the team on tour.

While welcoming Shaharyar M. Khan's move to step down after a controversy-riddled tenure topped off by the Oval fiasco, Senator Baig said that the Pakistan cricket, already at a low ebb, was now doomed.

"This is a whimsical appointment that has been made without any consultations," he remarked. He said that Dr Nasim was largely responsible of the Oval episode that brought shame to the entire country.

Ridiculing the appointment he said that Dr Nasim would have been more suited to head a baseball organization, having spent his entire life in the United States instead of heading Pakistan's Cricket Board.

"We all know what negative role the new appointee played following the ball-tampering accusations but here we have the PCB Patron Gen Musharraf rewarding him with the prized post of chairman of the Board," said the senator, who is also a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports.

He said that the root of the malaise in cricket lay in the absence of the Constitution of the board. He said that two years ago the outgoing chairman of the board had informed the Senate Committee that draft of the Constitution had been sent to the Patron but it had not yet been finalized. He demanded immediate finalization of the Constitution.