November 02, 2006	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 1: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Dr. Nasim Ashraf on Wednesday said the Pakistan players were charged up for the home series against the West Indies and the dismal show at the ICC Champions Trophy in India was now behind them.

"The poor Champions Trophy faring is a thing of past now. The boys are looking ahead to performing well against the West Indies which will be an exciting series,” said the chairman during a signing ceremony with title sponsors, Bank Alfalah for the forthcoming series.

“I have met coach Bob Woolmer and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and have exchanged views on the preparations for the series," he said.

The chairman disclosed that the training camp for the series, which was to be set-up from Nov 3, had been put off and now all the Test cricketers would appear in the Patron's Trophy matches starting from Friday across the country. “These matches will be Pakistan’s preparation for the series.”

“Skipper Inzamam will also be playing at Sheikhupura while Mohammad Yousuf and others would be representing different departments in the Trophy games,” Nasim said. "The West Indies is doing well in the Champions Trophy and it is a team which has always been full of talent and the series will be a close contest," he opined. "It is very important for us to win the series as it will help us in preparing a good team for next year’s World Cup."

The PCB chief said he also had a chat over telephone with chief selector Wasim Bari who lost his father-in-law the other day. "The captain, the coach and chief selector all agreed that bringing stability to the team and to keep continuity in the side for the World Cup should be our top priority now,” said Dr Ashraf. “The West Indies series will play an important part towards that," he said.

He said that unfortunately the performance of the team in the Champions Trophy was not up to the mark but the players could only learn from the mistakes.

To a question, the chairman said now it was the policy of the PCB that every Test players would have to play at least three for four matches in the first class cricket to get considered for selection in the Pakistan team.

When reminded that the previous management had also announced a similar policy which eventually failed, Nasim said he was talking about his new plans and was not concerned about the decisions of the previous management. "You should ask me about the results of this policy after one or two years," he said.

The chairman added that the PCB constitution was handed over to the president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf three days before the deadline of Nov 1 set by him.

He said on the instructions of the Senate Sports Committee, the board would ask the district associations to send their recommendations which will be incorporated in the constitutions.

Commenting on PCB’s recent complaint to the ICC against controversial Aussie umpire Darrel Hair, Nasim said a 12-page complaint had been sent to the ICC it would be coming up for discussion in the governing body’s meeting in Mumbai on Friday.