LAHORE, Oct 18: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sought assurance from temperamental paceman Shoaib Akhtar about his commitment to fitness, team spirit and discipline as conditions for regaining his place in the Pakistan team for the forthcoming home series against England, starting from Oct 26.
Shaharyar M. Khan, the PCB chairman, said on Tuesday that he had a long chat with Shoaib in Australia during the recent Super Series and discussed each point with him, relating to his regaining his place in the team.
The chairman said that Shoaib had assured him that he would be more committed to these objectives.
Shoaib is struggling to regain a place in the team after missing out the tours of India and West Indies this year.
He declined to visit India in March-April saying he was not fit enough.
Later, he made himself available for the May-June tour of the West Indies, but was overlooked since the PCB was not satisfied with fitness level.
Shaharyar, who also attended the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Sydney, said that the earthquake in Pakistan was mainly discussed by the member countries and altogether international response from the cricket playing countries was generous.
He said that the ICC had contributed half a million US dollars to the relief fund while PCB was expecting a minimum of Rs20 million for the noble cause from the first ODI of the five match home series against England.
The PCB and the ECB have dedicated the match for the relief fund.
He said that Cricket Australia and Channel 9 had generated funds through telethon service on the second day of the six-day Test between Australia and the World XI and they would dispatch it directly through the Australian Red Cross.
The PCB chief further said that during a telephone discussion with ACC president Jagmohan Dalmiya, an ACC sponsored earthquake relief match was also being considered.
“We agreed to examine possible dates for an international match in the next few days,” he said.
With regard to the ICC meeting, he said that the existing four years Future Tours Programme could be extended to six years and it was expected to be finalized at the next ICC Executive Board meeting in March, 2006.
“The existing four years circle has led to a heavily congested programme with countries squeezing in schedules, often with split tours and this has led to player injuries and staleness, playing in unseasonable weather and lowered interest by sponsors,” he said.
He said that Pakistan again expressed its opposition to the new substitutes rule for one-day cricket and also got support of several members.
But it was decided that a final decision on the new rule should be made after the completion of the trial period which had about five months to run, he added.
About the Twenty20 cricket, he said that there was a healthy debate on it in which some countries wanted their successful experiments at the national level to be accepted internationally while other countries, including Pakistan and India advised a more cautious approach.
He said that the ICC also agreed that the Super Series formula needs to be re-assessed on an ICC calendar fixture.
Incidentally, the same applies to the Afro-Asia Cup which also got off to an unimpressive start.
He said that the PCB and Cricket Australia have agreed on regular ‘A’ level tours.