February 17, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 28, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 16: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) accepted the resignation of National Cricket Academy (NCA) trainer Grant Compton on Friday.

Director Cricket Operations PCB Saleem Altaf told Dawn that Compton's resignation was presented to him by the administration on Friday, adding that he had accepted it.

Saleem said Compton, one of the hand-picked of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, had demanded an increase in his salary, besides asking more perks, which were not acceptable.

He said Compton, in protest, tendered the resignation which had been accepted. He added Compton's contract had been extending after every six months and last time it was extended on Dec 31 till June 30, 2007.

It is learnt that Compton was demanding a minimum increase of £500 in his monthly pay of £3500, besides demanding two business-class tickets (one for himself and another for his wife) after every two months.

It may be mentioned here that Compton had given fitness certificates to pace bowler Shabbir Ahmed and Abdul Razzaq, who joined the Pakistan team in South Africa before the start of the ODI series that ended recently. However, Shabbir was found not fit enough and returned home after only playing a Twenty20 match.

Meanwhile, Saleem said the Pakistan team manager Talat Ali would meet him at the PCB office on Monday to give his report on the recently concluded tour of South Africa.

After receiving the report, Salim said, he would be in a position to comment on the reported incident that took place between Bob Woolmer and Shoaib Akhtar in South Africa.

The manager imposed a cash penalty of $2500 on Shoaib after the incident. Later, Shoaib returned home due to a hamstring problem.