KARACHI: A top official of the Arabian Sea Country Club (ASCC) on Monday categorically denied that the switching of a Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match was due to the poor playing facilities at the ground.

Hasan Jamal, the ASCC’s General Manager Operations, told Dawn that the news published in a section of the media was just to malign the reputation of the top-class ASCC facilities.

“If there was a case of our ground here being unfit for a first-class game, then I’m sure the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would have acted swiftly by not allotting any match to the Arabian Sea Country Club,” said Hasan, a former Pakistan all-rounder who played six One-day Internationals between December 1977 and October 1978.

“How come the PCB let the Karachi Dolphins-Peshawar Panthers fixture go ahead at this venue if it isn’t good enough?”

Hasan, who joined the ASCC management in October 2012, further pointed out that the game between departmental outfits Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) would have got under way at the ASCC had both the teams wanted to. “Actually they never wanted to play here at all, so they had to find some flimsy excuses in order to get the match shifted to National Stadium,” disclosed Hasan. “What really hurt us was the fact some people started blaming that the venue was inappropriate for their teams to play.”

“Whatever has happened shouldn’t have happened in the first place. It is imperative that an inquiry should be conducted into this to avoid a repeat of such an event in the future.”

The ASCC official further clarified that misgivings about the venue were dispelled when the match officials carried out their routine duty a day before the SNGPL-PQA match. “Then nobody said anything about the [bowlers’] run-up being dangerous. The umpires and match referee expressed their satisfaction at the facilities” recalled Hasan. “In fact, after the original match was switched from here, we didn’t do anything as regards preparing for the Dolphins-Panthers fixture during the one-day. It was purely for logistic reasons that the PCB decided to start this game from Sunday, rather than Saturday.

“The ground was in match-playing conditions well before the on-going match started and there was no need at all from our side to intervene into the matter. The ground was handed to the match officials a day before the start as per rules and they didn’t ask for anything except to mow extra bit of grass on the pitch,” Hasan concluded.

Published in Dawn December 9th , 2014