April 25, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 07, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, April 24: The Performance Evaluation Committee (PEC) which has almost completed its probe into Pakistan’s recent debacle in World Cup at the Caribbeans, on Tuesday decided to gain some input from National Cricket Academy (NCA) Director Mudassar Nazar, NCA bowling coach Aaqib Javed and newly-appointed Director Cricket Operations, Zakir Khan.

However, when the PEC approached the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to make the three persons available for hearing on April 27, the board said neither Mudassar nor Aaqib were available.

"Aaqib is in Bangladesh as coach of Pakistan Academy team while Mudassar is going abroad before April 27, so both will not be available," was the reply of the PCB according to PEC chairman Ijaz Butt.

Ijaz, talking to Dawn, said he tried to get in touch with Mudassar through PCB but failed. When contacted by this scribe, Mudassar said he had already finalised a plan to visit Manchester and was not available for the hearing on April 27. "My visit to Manchester is necessary. I have to start the academies in the next few weeks and then I will not have any time to go abroad," said the former Test opener.

Mudassar said he did not know why the PEC committee decided to call him at this late stage. "I would have been easily available had PEC called me during its previous sessions," he said.

Meanwhile, Ijaz said though the committee was in the process of compiling the final report, it needed to clarify some points raised by players and officials. “To clarify these points, the three PCB officials would have been more suitable,” he explained. Ijaz said he would make another attempt to contact Mudassar before his departure to Manchester.