Following the ban of Saeed Ajmal for illegal bowling action, the PCB vows to become more strict and put a system in place where they can identify the bowlers with questionable actions at an earlier stage as they can be corrected and mentored.

By Amir Husain (14th September, 2014)

The appointment of a former senior diplomat, Shahrayar Khan, as Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has widely been regarded as a positive step towards establishment of an organization which is based up on principles of good governance and one that promotes and values merit at all levels. It is, therefore, encouraging to see that the new Chairman is wasting little time in ensuring that all PCB senior employees are made aware of this radical shift in management as was demonstrated when he called a meeting of the PCB Directors and General Managers of all departments on Tuesday 9th September 2014 to galvanize the participants to ensure that they had accomplished all tasks assigned to them on time and that suitable plans were in place for all future activity. He also asked for this meeting to be held on a weekly basis where the accomplishments of each participant could be discussed and evaluated in detail.

The Chairman also served notice to the meeting participants about the plans to downsize the organization in accordance with humane principles would be put in place. Khan outlined his plans for this move by putting forward different routes to achieving this goal such as non-renewal of existing contracts on expiry, redeployment of employees within the organization and also ensuring that only the most suitable persons were employed at PCB by carrying out performance reviews. 

Given the news of the latest crisis to afflict Pakistan Cricket, the Chairman and participants were also briefed by the Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed about the status of the Saeed Ajmal issue. Following the briefing by Ahmed, the attendees agreed that a strategy be proposed to ensure that the PCB has its own system in place in which young cricketers with suspect actions are caught at an early age so that they are trained properly and any issues with their bowling actions be rectified. 

In his recent visit to the nation’s largest city, Karachi, the Chairman also had the opportunity to personally assess the situation as regards to the promotion and running of cricket in Karachi which falls under the auspices of the KCCA. Whilst the issues with the facilities and promotion of cricket amongst the younger generation and women’s cricket were given importance during this trip, the Chairman also brought to everyone’s attention that the Karachi academy along with every regional academy needs to be fixed. He suggested that this process be started in the major cities across Pakistan before it could begin in smaller cities.

The meeting concluded with the Chairman making it clear that corruption had absolutely no place in the PCB and clear and transparent management practices were the way forward with senior managers setting the standards for all to follow. He also made some encouraging remarks about what he deemed to be an important aspect of the development of new talent for Pakistan in the shape of ways to increase and promote international cricket for the Under 17s and the Under 19s. The Chairman stressed that ‘A’’ tours would be held even if PCB has to bear its cost in terms of reciprocity by hosting offshore series.

Discuss