ICC wants resumption of Pak-India cricketing ties

The International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Haroon Lorgat has renewed hopes of a Pakistan-India series in the near future by confirming that while political differences between the two countries do not allow a home series for either team, the postponed tour can take place at a neutral venue.

Lorgat, while speaking exclusively to The Express Tribune during his World Twenty20 trophy tour of Karachi, also assured Pakistani fans that the ICC was taking up the issue of lack of international cricket in Pakistan, instead of isolating the country. “India was due to tour Pakistan in early 2009 but they cancelled that series because of political reasons,” said Lorgat.

“But they have to fulfil the obligation before the next FTP that begins in 2012. We can’t force any country to play if political or security reasons prompt their government to instruct them not to play in a country but such a series can be held at a neutral venue.”


Security woes

The Pakistani fans have been feeling isolated of late as, together with the foreign teams’ reluctance to tour the troubled land, the ICC has also been forced to move tournaments away from the country. The Champions Trophy 2008 was first postponed and then moved to South Africa and Pakistan was removed as co-host of the 2011 World Cup that led to its cricket board filing a legal case against the ICC.

The case was later withdrawn and the PCB was awarded ‘significant compensation’. The forced and justified move on the ICC’s part led to a negative perception of the organisation but Lorgat confirmed that they were practical moves and taken considering the betterment of the sport in general.

“We took the decision for the right reason. There wasn’t anything funny about it and we didn’t intend to hurt Pakistan cricket or its fans. It was purely a practical and cricketing reason and the negative perception of the ICC was, indeed, unfortunate. At the back of our minds we know that the Pakistani people feel as if they’ve been let down but that’s not something we wanted to do.”

The legal case, according to Lorgat, was a case of the “Pakistan board being mis-informed” as opposed to it being unhappy over the decision. “The 50-over World Cup is the ICC’s flag-ship event. It takes a long time to prepare and we have no option but to deliver it successfully.

We learnt from the Champions Trophy postponement and acted upon the advice to remove Pakistan as co-hosts early as no teams were willing to play there.” While Pakistan longed to play international cricket last year, the willingness to host matches at a neutral venue has increased its international commitments significantly. Lorgat, however, reminded the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not to neglect domestic cricket to ensure the players remain competitive and fresh for matches the fans remain interested.”

© Faras Ghani 2010

Published in The Express Tribune, Apr 17, 2010

ICC Hall of Fame induction thrills Wasim Akram

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was one of the five new inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame when the additional list of players to the original 55 was released here on Tuesday. Representing Pakistan in 104 Tests and 356 ODIs for Pakistan after making his debut in 1984, Wasim was delighted by the induction into the list that includes the likes of Don Bradman, Imran Khan, Ian Chappell, Javed Miandad and Hanif Mohammad.

‘It’s a dream come true to be honest and I never thought I’d reach this far,’ Wasim, who has 414 Test wickets and became the first bowler to reach the 500-wicket mark in ODIs, told Dawn. ‘It’s also a great honour for me, means a lot to be part of such an elite list and shows I have done something worthwhile in my life and worked hard to achieve what I did.’

Wasim, Man of the Match in the 1992 World Cup final that Pakistan won by beating England, also captained Pakistan in 25 Tests and 109 ODIs, including the 1999 World Cup final that Australia won by eight wickets. Recalling the defeat at Lord’s, Wasim labelled it one of the lowest moments in his 19-year career but was quick to point out the highlights that allowed him to enter the Cricket Hall of Fame.

‘My whole career was a rollercoaster. Though the loss in the 1999 final was the lowest point in my career, I’m a person who believes in positives and forgetting the negatives. Thankfully, I’ve had more positives than negatives including the 1992 World Cup final, winning in India in 1987, the Test-series win against England in 1992 and the West Indies whitewash in 1997.

‘I will also cherish the ten-wicket haul against Australia in 1989 and my first century that made me realise I can bat and that I should work hard on my batting though I never did.’

Not forgetting his mammoth nine-hour stay at the crease while scoring 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura, Wasim labelled it ‘something out of the ordinary’ and reckoned that innings showed he had the potential to become a better batsman than his figures showed. ‘That innings was no fluke because you can only score a century as a fluke, not a 250-plus score. I batted for nine hours and realised that in order to score runs, you need to stay at the crease and at that time the cricket ball seemed as a big as a football and if Saqlain [Mushtaq] hadn’t been dismissed, I may have even scored 300.’

‘While the award is more of a personal satisfaction, a gesture that says I’ve done well in the field of cricket, it should also motivate our team and youngsters who are either involved with cricket right now or will play in the future. It tells them that if you do well consistently, you will be rewarded one day.’

The four other new inductees include Herbert Sutcliffe (England) and the Australian trio of Clarrie Grimmett, Victor Trumper and Steve Waugh.

© Faras Ghani 2009.
Published in DAWN newspaper, Oct 1, 2009.

ICC yet to receive PCB request about replacement

While the Pakistan team management in London confirmed that a replacement for the injured Yasir Arafat has been sought in the form of Abdul Razzaq, the ICC technical committee has yet to receive any formal requests from the PCB.

“There have been reports of the PCB seeking a replacement for the injured Arafat but we’ve had no official word from them as yet,” Steve Elworthy, the ICC World Twenty20 tournament director and member of the ICC technical committee, confirmed to Dawn.

“The process can be started as soon as a request is received and, if done electronically, can take up to 12 hours.”

Considering Pakistan play their first Super Eights match on Friday, the delay comes as a surprise, puzzling especially given that Pakistan’s coach Intikhab Alam confirmed that a request has already been sent to the PCB.

“Arafat is definitely out of the tournament and we have asked the PCB to send Razzaq as replacement,” Intikhab had told Dawn.

“Losing Arafat is obviously a big blow to us as his attitude towards training and performing for Pakistan was terrific but it’s an unfortunate thing that can happen to anyone, and at any time.”

Arafat will be leaving the squad today and will rejoin his county Sussex that he is representing in the on-going county season as their overseas player.

Razzaq, an ex-ICL player, was originally named by the PCB in the 30-man squad for the tournament in May but his name was quickly scratched off due to ICC’s objections to ICL-linked players at that time.

Given the fact that he terminated his contract with the ICL recently, and was part of the recently-concluded domestic Twenty20 tournament in Pakistan, Razzaq seemed an obvious like-for-like replacement given Arafat’s withdrawal despite having not played international cricket for just over two years.

“Razzaq is a talented and professional cricketer who shone in ICL as well as Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20,” Intikhab said.

“I’m sure his performance will not be hampered by the fact that he hasn’t played international cricket for a long time and we look forward to having him in the squad.”

Razzaq, given the PCB sends in the replacement request in time, can feature for Pakistan against Sri Lanka as early as Friday, and can become the first ex-ICL player to return to international cricket.”

© Faras Ghani 2009.
Published in DAWN newspaper June 11, 2009

Tremendous response to APL in US, say organisers

The American Premier League (APL) will go ahead with its inaugural Twenty20 tournament from Oct 6, 2009, even if the ICC refuses to sanction the league, the organisers confirmed on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with Dawn, Jay Mir, president of the organising American Sports & Entertainment Group Inc (ASEG), remained optimistic about the ongoing negotiations with the USA Cricket Association (USACA) while confirming that the New York City tournament is ‘good to go’.

“As we move forward with our negotiations, it is worth mentioning that we haven’t received a rebel status as yet,” Mir said. “The ICC has advised players and officials to stay away from the league until a concrete decision has been made and I think it is in the best interest of USACA, APL and for the development of the game in USA that this league gets sanctioned,” he added. “However, since we are not depending on the official go-ahead, the first tournament will be held even if the USACA refuses to approve it.”

The maiden APL Twenty20 tournament has attracted big name players from all over the world, especially the ICL recruits deprived of cricket following the league’s season cancellation due to the economic gloom. According to Mir, APL has succeeded in signing Inzamam-ul-Haq, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Abdul Razzak, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed with Moin Khan acting as Premium Pakistan’s coach. It will be one of the six teams competing in the league.

“We have succeeded in recruiting Richard Hadlee as an executive consultant while also signing Graeme Hick, Nathan Astle and Adam Hollioake,” disclosed Mir.

When asked if the APL — as it seems to be following in the footsteps of ICL — could also be labelled a rebel league, Mir remained hopeful of the USACA’s decision and the fact that both organisations shared similar vision. “The reason behind ICL’s failure [due to financial reasons] was because they didn’t have backing from the national board [the BCCI]. I’m sure the decision-makers at the USACA are smart enough to understand that we also want to promote cricket in the United States and judging by the response we’ve had already, I can only imagine how successful we can be in achieving that goal.”

The tournament, due to played on a round-robin basis on the Staten Island Yankees baseball ground, will feature six teams vying for a semi-final berth that will be followed by best-of-three finals. Apart from Premium Pakistan, the tournament will comprise of an Indian, West Indian, American, Bangladeshi and a World XI.

According to Mir, the long term plan is to stage the tournament twice a year with locations varying across the continent. “Since our aim is to promote cricket, we have planned to stage the tournament across the continent from next year. It is a big event — an unprecedented event in fact in the history of the nation — and we want to ensure we launch is properly.”

The organisers’ keenness to get on with the league can be judged by the fact that, according to Mir, most of the sponsors have been confirmed, all participating teams have been finalised and that ASEG has received bids for television rights from multiple companies.

“The response has been phenomenal. We’ve had people enquiring about tickets already and offering their services to the league. There exists great excitement in the general public with regards to the tournament and what we’ve achieved in one month is just amazing,” said Mir. “We want to kickstart the game of cricket in the region and for that reason, I hope we get the USACA’s approval as players of this calibre do not deserve to be tagged as rebels.”

As the tournament details are released, a feeling of uneasiness has been felt around the cricketing world. Apart from the ICC cautions released last week, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) expressed its disappointment over Hadlees’ affiliation with APL. “’It’s regrettable that Hadlee has aligned with an unsanctioned and unofficial circuit,” Justin Vaughan, NZC chief executive, had told the Sunday Star-Times.

But Mir said the league will only promote the game in the US region through Hadlee’s services. “We will be promoting the game in the country with Hadlee,” Mir said. “Although cricket is being played across the continent, APL is serving as a door for the game to enter the US properly.”

© Faras Ghani 2009
Published in DAWN newspaper Apr 29, 2009