LAHORE: After a month’s remedial work done by Saqlain Mushtaq on Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to extend the agreement with the former by another 15 days.

“After further remedial work during the next fortnight Ajmal shall be sent over to an ICC-approved high-quality lab in England for testing to ascertain the exact degree of improvement in the ace off-spinner’s action,” said a PCB press release.

The decision was taken at the PCB Cricket Committee meeting held here on Wednesday.

The PCB has hired the services of Saqlain, the former Test off-spin maestro, to guide Ajmal, whose bowling action was declared illegal by the ICC last month. Initially, the PCB signed a one-month agreement with Saqlain, the inventor of ‘doosra’, which was ending on Oct 24. But now it has been extended for 15 days.

It may be mentioned here that during a press conference on Oct 13, PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan, while quoting Ajmal and Saqlain, had claimed that the former had made considerable improvement regarding his action, and that he was about to start bowling his most devastating delivery — ‘doosra’ — in the next couple of days.

However, now the extension to Saqlain somehow reflects the improvement made by Ajmal might not have been that significant.

“Look it is quite easy when you bowl in a practice session, sometimes with no batsman facing you. But when you compare it to bowling in a [competitive] international match, with fear of illegal bowling action in the mind, what kind of quality performance a bowler can produce,” a PCB official told Dawn while showing very little hope about Ajmal’s return to international cricket.

Meanwhile, the Cricket Committee also took the decision regarding officials engaged in dual or triple jobs at the PCB, recommending curtailing all dual and multiple roles to one post.

If the recommendation is implemented, several key officials including almost all selectors of senior and junior selection committees and some NCA officials will come under it.

The cricket committee, held under its chairman Shakil Sheikh with Iqbal Qasim, Intikhab Alam, Zakir Khan and Haroon Rasheed as members was also specially attended by PCB chairman Shaharyar.

The Governing Board members namely Najam Sethi, Mansoor Masood Khan, PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed, NCA head coach Mohammad Akram and NCA senior general manager Ali Zia were also present at the meeting.

“The Cricket Committee and special invitees were briefed in detail on the work done [on Ajmal] and improvement obtained so far.

“Ajmal has been tested on the 2D equipment at the NCA where he has shown significant improvement. After the remedial work is complete, he shall be tested in a state-of-the-art lab with 3D facility,” Shakil said.

Meanwhile, the cricket committee recommendations will be presented before the Board of Governors, who are meeting at the NCA on Thursday.

The manager and coach reports on Pakistan’s last tour to Sri Lanka will also be discussed in Thursday’s meeting.

Moreover, the PCB will appoint a new chairperson of its women’s wing in place of Bushra Aitzaz whose four-year tenure did not see Pakistan women’s team recording any significant achievement against formidable teams.

Shaharyar is likely to recommend Mira Phailbus, who had run the women’s wing during his previous tenure (2004 to 2006). However, when Shaharyar left the PCB Mira was not seen in any women cricket activities, showing no interest for it.

Shaharyar will also present a report on his recent visit to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Dubai.

On these visits, the PCB chief claimed after the tour, he obtained promises from all the three cricket boards regarding sending their national, ‘A’ and junior teams to Pakistan to revive international cricket in the country.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014