August 07, 2008	Thursday	Sha’aban 4, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 6: Four top-ranked members of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) task force are not coming to Pakistan for a scheduled three-day tour, starting from Aug 10, to monitor the security situation ahead of the Champions Trophy 2008.

The revised list of task force members sent to the PCB for their proposed visit to Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi from Aug 10 does not include the names of ICC President David Morgan, ICC Vice President Sharad Pawar, CEO ICC Haroon Lorgat and principal advisor I.S. Bindra.

The omission of such important personalities from the high-profile task force has somewhat dampened the hype around its visit.

The ICC, in a teleconference last month, reiterated that Pakistan will host the Champions Trophy in September despite security reservations from Australian, English, New Zealand and South African players.

However, in order to satisfy the disgruntled bunch of players, the world cricket governing body said a task force will visit Pakistan to inspect as well as suggest the necessary measure for the mega event.

The eight-member task force originally comprised David Morgan, Sharad Pawar, Haroon Lorgat, I.S. Bindra, Tim May (CEO FICA), PCB Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf and representatives of the broadcasters.

However, after the omission of the four top officials, the six-member task force to visit Pakistan will now comprise Campbell Jamieson (ICC’s General Manager Commercial), Brian Murgatroyd (ICC’s General Manager Media and Communication), David Richardson (ICC General Manager Cricket), Tim May (CEO Players’ Association), Manu Sauhney and Anurag Dahiya (representatives of broadcasters).

Our Sports Reporter from Islamabad adds: Rawalpindi Cricket stadium will be ready for the forthcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy before Aug 25.

This was informed by a official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday.

Talking to Dawn, he said: “We hope that the up-gradation of the stadium will be completed within the last week of August as the contractor assured us of his commitment.”

The official said that the Rawalpindi cricket stadium will be handed over to ICC on September 1. Pakistan is hosting the ICC mega event from September 11-28.

Five One-day International matches including a semi-final will be played at the venue. Rawalpindi cricket stadium is one of the venues among two others — Karachi and Lahore.

“A PCB team has also started furnishing work in the stadium at the dressing room while the digital screen will be fixed within a week” the official added.

Regarding the ongoing construction work he pointed “our main focus is to get a clearance report for dressing rooms, media centre, and long room within the shortest possible time”.

When asked about the upcoming ICC task force visit to Pakistan the official said the Rawalpindi venue will likely get a positive nod from the games governing body as they have made good arrangements at the stadium.

Meanwhile, the ICC task force will be visiting Pakistan on Aug 10. The ICC task force comprises eight members —David Morgan, the ICC president, Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice-president, I.S. Bindra, ICC’s principal advisor, Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA), representatives from broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports and the ICC’s security consultants.