While the ICC’s clean-chit to The Oval game is indeed a relief for Pakistan cricket, it is by no means an ‘achievement’ of the PCB. As for the resolution of the Younis case, it had been long overdue and only came about after the former captain lowered his ‘justified’ stance in the best interest of the game. -Photo by AP

After a prolonged spell of gloom and disaster, Pakistan cricket finally received some positive news in the past week. First, the International Cricket Council (ICC) cleared The Oval one-dayer of any corruption or spot-fixing doubts that were cast on that game by Britian’s tabloid or gutter press early last month. And secondly, there was the welcome return of senior batsman Younis Khan to the national ranks after a seven-month ‘Butt-imposed’ exile.

But despite the two positive developments, Pakistan cricket is nowhere near the hunky-dory state it should have been in. In fact, it is still wobbling in the uncertainty zone with the Lord’s Test spot-fixing issue yet to be decided and the all-important World Cup approaching fast.

The level of mess created by the current PCB set-up has drawn the wrath of the ICC which has now cautioned Pakistan to either put its house in order within 30 days or face sanctions.

While some have found the ICC’s tone as downright harsh in dictating the PCB to put in place some tough measures without wasting anymore time, the majority has appreciated the move from the game’s governing body since the image of Pakistan cricket has been tarnished like never before in chairman Ijaz Butt’s tenure.

The latest among a series of horrendous moves made by the PCB chief is the introduction of a new yet absurd selection policy which gives the PCB chief unprecedented powers of selection while minimising the input from captain and coach. It caps a long list of PCB goof-ups such as the startling appointment of Misbah-ul-Haq as Test captain, the uncertainty over World Cup leadership, the row over team selection and so on. Besides, the autocratic attitude of the board’s top management in running of cricket affairs with complete disregard to former stalwarts and the media has damaged the game even further.

In such a hopelessly bad scenario, it is foolhardy to expect the PCB to learn from its many mistakes. Regrettably, the board seems to have almost blindfolded itself when it comes to dealing with key issues.

So while the ICC’s clean-chit to The Oval game is indeed a relief for Pakistan cricket, it is by no means an ‘achievement’ of the PCB. As for the resolution of the Younis case, it had been long overdue and only came about after the former captain lowered his ‘justified’ stance in the best interest of the game.

The ICC giving Pakistan a 30-day period to put its house in order has somehow woken up the lethargic PCB administration from a deep slumber. The swift amendments in the players’ code of conduct and a definite policy to sideline the ‘tainted’ players are clear indications of how seriously the PCB is taking the ICC ‘threat’.

And who knows Younis’ return to the team might also have come about due as part of the measures adopted to please Lorgat and Co. After all, Younis is way out the most non-controversial and ‘clean’ cricketer around. One sincerely hopes that these measures and a few others in the pipeline contribute substantially in enhancing the image of Pakistan cricket.

Coming back to PCB’s perplexing policy on team selection, the captain and coach will not be consulted in the final selection of the team which is completely nonsensical, to say the least.

More surprisingly, the policy has apparently been introduced following the many differences that cropped up among limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi, head coach Waqar Younis and chief selector Mohsin Khan over team selection for the series against the Proteas. Both Afridi and Waqar have spoken their mind about the selection made for South Africa series.

The selectors, it is said, will only seek the chairman’s advice in finalising the squad. All one can say is that it can only happen in Pakistan cricket and nowhere else!

And it doesn’t end here. The selectors of Pakistan will also be giving a certain strategy to the captain and the coach in picking
the playing eleven and if they fail to follow the plan, they would be held responsible for any defeat that may come by.

However, if the final XI is picked on the basis of selectors’ strategy, a lost contest will be blamed on the selectors.

The question that arises is who will have the right to take credit if the selectors’ playing XI wins? Because in an already tense atmosphere, a victory too may trigger an argument between captain/coach and the selectors.

The preparations of the Pakistan team, which is already deprived of international action at home since March 2009 due to security issues, is in a shambles for the all-important World Cup. Even the lowly-rated Bangladesh have lifted their game with a historic one-day series clean-sweep against the Kiwis but Pakistan is still searching for an ideal ODI combination.

While leading cricketing nations such as Australia, India, England and South Africa are adopting
useful build-up measures for the 2011 extravaganza, set to be staged in the sub-continent, we have brought back a tried-and-failed 36-year-old for the tough series against South Africa. It was perhaps for Ijaz Butt and his men that John Powell once said: “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”