The Chairman PCB, Lt. General Tauqir Zia said here on Wednesday that the members of Pakistan Team were likely to sign the ICC contract as there was no conflict of interest as far as Pakistan was concerned.

Talking to the newsmen informally at the PCB Head office Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, he said in case of Pakistan the main Sponsors of ICC were the same as of PCB, Pepsi, and therefore there was no hitch for our players to endorse it.

PCB chairman also had a word of praise for the Pakistan Captain, Waqar Younis for consistency in his own performance and the handling of the team. However he felt there was lack of game-plan and concentration in the Pakistan batting which required more attention by the Coach and the team management, to rectify this weakness.

Asked about the likely venue of the Pakistan Test series against Australia, he said negotiations were still in progress with the Australian Cricket Board with two options.

The first option was to play one Test in Sri Lanka followed by the remaining two Tests, at Sharjah. The itinerary is being worked out. Asked about the choice of Bangladesh he, said that personally would have preferred it as the most ideal venue but this was ruled out mainly due to logistic problems as Pakistan had currently no flights to Dhaka. Pakistan players too preferred Sharjah and Colombo and felt more comfortable playing there.

The Chairman PCB said that the new constitution of the PCB was ready. However he had just issued an amendment which would enable him to appoint provincial Associations in view of the new devolution plan in which the Divisional Associations have been done away. He expected to enforce the new constitution shortly after receiving the feed back on the new amendment.

He also said that the tentative date for the inauguration of National Cricket Academy was September 30, but there could be some delay due to the re-designing of indoor practice facilities for which a foreign expert had been approached.

Khalid Butt
Media Manager
August 21, 2002

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