LAHORE: Instead of waiting for Umar Akmal’s reply to the show-cause notice issued to him following his outburst against Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday issued a statement condemning the discarded batsman’s actions while refuting the allegations made by him.

Umar had said at a news conference on Wednesday that Arthur had abused him in front of chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq and bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed at the National Cricket Academy, where he went to practice.

It saw Umar being issued a show cause notice on Thursday where he was given seven days to reply.

However, PCB’s statement on Friday seems like Umar’s reply will be a mere formality with the country’s cricket governing body putting its weight behind Arthur, who oversaw Pakistan’s glorious ICC Champions Trophy triumph in June.

“The PCB strongly condemns the reckless statements made by batsman Umar Akmal with regards to his omission from the ICC Champions Trophy squad,” the statement said.

“Umar was given as many as seven chances to improve his fitness and match the standards of his team-mates, laid out by the team management.

“He was given a programme to improve his fitness like other players before the West Indies tour and after he failed the tests in Lahore, he was left out of the team.

“After clearing another test before the squad selection on eve of the ICC Champions Trophy in England, Umar was included in the eventual 15-member squad.

“The PCB wants to stress that the team trainer conducts fitness tests of squad members before each international assignment and the tests before the Champions Trophy were conducted as a continuation of the policy.

“Once again Umar failed to attain the desired level of fitness and the team management was left with no option but to drop him from the squad.

“Head coach Mickey Arthur had placed Umar in his white ball format plans and gave him repeated chances for redemption, unfortunately though the batsman remained incapable of reaching the requisite fitness level.

“The PCB awaits his response to the show cause issued to him yesterday and hopes that in the meantime, the batsman will refrain from making baseless allegations,” it concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017