LAHORE: Former chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Zaka Ashraf has expressed doubts over the Loughborough University’s test report of Mohammad Hafeez after the veteran all-rounder’s bowling action was declared illegal for the third time on Thursday.

Talking to Dawn, Zaka said the best places for Pakistan players for bowling tests are South Africa and Australia rather than England and India, who both have a biased attitude against them, while suggesting Hafeez should have gone either to South Africa or Australia for the test.

Zaka also hit out at the PCB for not taking care of players who are reported having an illegal bowling action despite the board setting up its own bio-mechanic lab at a private university in Lahore which still awaits ICC’s accreditation.

The ex-PCB chief added had the local lab been used properly, no such case would have surfaced in the first place.

Zaka also said that seasoned spinner Saeed Ajmal, whose bowling action has also been declared illegal in the past, chose to announce his retirement from cricket due to PCB’s apathy. He said the PCB did nothing to bring an improvement in the long-serving Saeed’s bowling action.

Zaka advised the PCB not to let Saeed retire but it should rather try to improve his bowling action since the bowler still has cricket left in him.

He said a lot of cricketers have been wasted by the PCB just because of mishandling.

Zaka said a good number of talented cricketers ended their careers either because of match-fixing or illegal bowling action, which is clear proof that the PCB lacks expertise in handling the players.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017