LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board’s Board of Governors is expected to take several key decisions, including the significant one concerning restructuring domestic cricket and review of the proposed constitutional ame­n­dments, during its 52nd meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday.

According to the agenda of the meeting being held here at the National Cricket Academy, reports of the task force on domestic cricket structure, constitutional review and the report of the PCB cricket committee are to be presented for discussion and approval by the BoG.

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani will chair the gathering which will be the first BoG meeting of Shah Dost and Akbar Durrani. Shah has replaced Murad Ismail as a result of the Quetta region elections. Akbar has replaced Jamil Ahmad as Inter-provincial Coordination secretary as well as an ex-officio member. This will also be the first meeting of the managing director Wasim Khan, who took charge of the newly created post on Wednesday.

Others who will attend today’s meeting as members include Asad Ali Khan, retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain, Mohammad Ayaz Butt, Dr Najeeb Samie, Kabir Ahmad Khan and Shahrez Abdullah Khan.

The BoG meeting agenda also contains deliberations on PCB’s anti-racism code for participants. The subject has gained added importance in the backdrop of Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed’s racist remark he made against an opposition player during the recently-held ODI series in South Africa after which the touring skipper was suspended for four matches by the ICC, and was subsequently called back home by the PCB.

According to initial reports about domestic cricket restructuring proposals, the PCB will reduce the number of regions, probably to eight from the present 16. Moreover, the departments affiliated with the Board will be allowed to sponsor only one region, instead of also fielding their own teams.

The constitutional amendments will also be made to incorporate the new domestic system in the constitution.

Furthermore, the report of the cricket committee headed by Mohsin Khan will also be discussed by the house. The committee, which contains prominent names like ex-Pakistan captains Wasim Akram and Misbah-ul-Haq, is only authorised to make recommendations for cricket uplift while the power to implement or reject those recommendations rests with PCB chairman.

Though the matter of domestic cricket restructuring should have come under the domain of the cricket committee but the PCB for the purpose appointed a task force headed by retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain.

The BoG meeting is also likely to decide about the rules and regulations for allowances, privileges and entitlements of the chairman and BoG.

The updates on the fourth Pakistan Super League (PSL) and rules of engagement of PCB employees with PSL franchises will also come under discussion.

Meanwhile, a PCB press release issued on Wednesday said, “There will be no media briefing at the end of the meeting and the outcomes will be announced via a media release.”

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019