da bwin： Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has given the best assurance yet that the one-day series against England could go ahead
Cricinfo staff24-Aug-2006
Khan has held meetings with the team and captain, and given his assurance that Pakistan wish to concentrate on cricket and not wait for the hearing © Getty Images
Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has given the best assurance yet that the one-day series against England could go ahead. Speaking to PTI, Khan confirmed his side’s commitment to the forthcoming series and says their ‘focus is now on cricket’.A disciplinary hearing on charges faced by Inzamam-ul-Haq, for ball-tampering and bringing the game into dispute, was due to be held on Friday but it has been deferred. The date of the hearing will be announced tomorrow.”The players did not want to play the one-day series with the sword ofthe hearing hanging over them but now they have realised the importance of playing,” Khan explained. “Our focus is now on cricket.I’ve held meetings with the Pakistan players and captain. I’ve toldthem we don’t have any problems with the ECB so we must continue with the tour.”The postponement of the hearing is due to the unavailability of RanjanMadugalle, the ICC chief match referee, whose sister recently suffered a serious accident. Both England and Pakistan have requested Madugalleas the adjudicator, which was confirmed by the ICC chief executive,Malcolm Speed, who is flying to London in the next 48 hours to tacklethe situation head-on.Despite a calming of the waters in England, back in Islamabad, Pakistani MPs of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) party have tabled a motion in the lower house to discuss the issue. “We urged the government to formally intervene in the matter,” Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, the senior MMA leader, told AFP. “We support Inzamam’s decision,” he said adding that the Pakistan captain was justified in registering his protest after the team were dubbed ‘cheats’.Pakistan face England in a Twenty20 match on August 28 at Bristol.<!–The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has demanded that the ICC hold a disciplinary hearing on charges faced by Inzamam-ul-Haq for ball tampering and bringing the game into disrepute before Monday. They added that they will not have a problem if Clive Lloyd is appointed to deal with the case.However, contradictory reports have emerged from the Pakistan camp with Zaheer Abbas, the team manager, telling journalists that it had been decided that they would wait until the end of the one-day series, on September 10, for the hearing to take place. "The board will have no objection if ICC appoints Clive Lloyd for the case hearing," a PCB spokesperson was quoted as saying on Geo TV, a Pakistan news channel.But a spokesman for DLA Piper, the legal firm appointed to represent Inzamam, said: "We want the original bloke. Clearly he has problems to deal with, but the situation has not changed."Abbas, however, offered another different view: "There was an opinion we should ask the ICC to have the hearing before the one-day series to close this issue but since both boards have agreed on having Ranjan Madugalle as the adjudicator it has been decided to wait until he is available. Madugalle's sister has had a serious accident and the reasons for postponing the hearing are genuine." Rather confusingly, he concluded: "Our legal advisers also felt it was best to wait."He added that Thursday's fixture against Middlesex would go ahead as planned. "We are definitely playing that match and the remaining ones also. The players are now just concentrating on the cricket and winning the one-dayers."Earlier, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, who is flying to London in the next two days to tackle the crisis first hand, said Friday's planned hearing had been postponed since Pakistan and England preferred Madugalle to act as adjudicator.On Thursday Pakistani MPs of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) party have tabled a motion in the lower house to discuss the issue. "We urged the government to formally intervene in the matter," Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, the senior MMA leader, told AFP. "We support Inzamam's decision," he said adding that the Pakistan captain was justified in registering protest after the team were dubbed 'cheats'."Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that David Morgan, the chairman of the ECB, took part in a 45-minute meeting on Wednesday with Shaharyar Khan and Inzamam at the team’s hotel near Heathrow. Morgan said he had been invited to the meeting by Khan, who said he was “very keen that the one-dayers are not disrupted”. The newspaper speculated that Khan may have been trying to use Morgan’s influence to persuade Inzamam to carry on with the tour.–>