DateLine: 19th December 2006

Press Release - 17 December 2006

The ad-hoc committee of the PCB, which met here under its chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf on Sunday, has decided to retain Inzamam-ul-Haq as captain and former Test player Talat Ali as manager of Pakistan team for the South African tour and the World Cup.

Dr Nasim, shortly after the committee meeting in which a long agenda was discussed and approved, announced at a well attended press briefing that for the sake of continuity and stability the committee had decided to retain Inzamam as captain and Talat Ali as manager for two important assignments.

Younis Khan would be vice captain on both the tours and Bob Woolmer the coach. PJ Mir who played for Pakistan in a World Cup in England in 70s has been named media manager only for the World Cup, he added.

He praised skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq for pulling the team through some traumatic happenings in England (referring to the Oval controversy). He pointed out that he had seen self-belief and confidence in the team which were two important points for winning the events like the World Cup. He confidently added that he had seen these qualities at peak in the dressing room of the team at the National Stadium here at Karachi

He gave full credit to the leadership of Inzamam and said that the captain had given new confidence to the team. The way Inzamam fielded and led the team showed that he had set a personal example for others.

Among the other decision taken at the meeting was empowering the cricket associations in various manners including financial. It had been decided that the 50 per cent of gate money earned from ODI and Test matches would be given to the association where the matches would be played.

The PCB would distribute the other 50 per cent of the gate money to other associations of the respective province. The money would be given as soon as the financial accounts were finalised and received. The committee had decided to set up welfare fund with the initial amount of Rs 10 million for the Test crickets who had played before Packer Series of 1978.

A formula had been set up according to which the Test players of 60 years or over 60 would be given a monthly stipend or pension according to the Test matches played. Due consideration would be given to hardship cases and medical needs, he said. Those who had played 20 Tests or more would be given Rs 25, 000 as pension monthly, those who had played 10-19 Tests would be given Rs 20, 000 and between 1-9 Tests would receive Rs 15, 000. In case any of these cricketers had passed away the pension would be given to his widow throughout her life. A three-member committee would be set up to look after the pension scheme.

It had been decided to launch the scheme for the current Test players on "contributory basis". Moin Afzal, an expert on these matters, Ali Raza and all members of the committee would hold a meeting on Monday along with DCO to formulate a formula for the approval.

The committee also discussed the report finalised by Australian expert Bruce Elliot who had cleared pacer Shabbir Ahmed from the suspect bowling action. The Australian had sent his report to the ICC, which he said would allow Shabbir to bowl at international level from December 20.

The committee had also received the internal audit and institutional audit in which the company Ferguson had recommended a number of steps for the approval.

A decision has also been made in regard to installing the video screens at major cricket centres. Some three companies, one from USA, one from South Africa and the UK Phillips had made impressive presentations. No company had been awarded the contract but he said the screens would be in operation in the coming tour of South Africa.

As many as three TV channels had also made presentation for the coverage of domestic cricket. Bids from these channels would be invited before taking a decision.

He said after taking over the reins of the PCB he had decided to quash the PCB's previous bid to launch its own TV channel.

He personally felt it would be better to have partnership with the media instead of having one's own channel. It was not the job of the PCB to run a TV channel, he said.

Commenting about the power black out that occurred at Lahore ODI, he said all those connected with the project had submitted their reports.

Philips Pakistan, which installed the lights, NesPak who were given the supervisory power on behalf of the PCB and the PCB General Manager Administration, all have submitted their respective comments on the issue. A committee would be set up to study these resorts and identify the responsibility in 30 days.

Dr Nasim Ashraf, who had been made convenor of 2011 World Cup, said that the first meeting of the organization committee would be held on May 19 in Murree next year.

He said the heads of the four cricket boards of the subcontinent which met recently in New Delhi unanimously decided to set up the central secretariat for the 2011 World Cup in Pakistan because they all felt that Pakistan could do the job better.

The next meeting of the committee would be held on January 11, 2007.

Media Department

(Article: Copyright © 2006 Pakistan Cricket Board)