Cricket: NOC delay hitting Ramazan tournaments

PCB keeping close eye on all local events

KARACHI: Organisers’ plans of staging tournaments in Ramazan are being affected after a delay in the issuance of NOCs by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

While the PCB has decided to take all these events under its umbrella, a delay in issuing the NOC has hampered preparations of organisers while causing uncertainty. Several high-profile tournaments are arranged in Karachi alone with Ramazan being the busiest month for these.

However, the PCB, which has ruled out taking any chances after a gun attack on the Sri Lanka team in March 2009 deprived Pakistan of top-flight international cricket, is keen on keeping a close watch on all events.

“We’ve already suffered a lot after that attack,” a PCB official told The Express Tribune. “Now we can’t allow local organisers to call international players without meeting the security measures. The PCB wants to be onboard for such events because any incident relating to security could deprive Pakistan of international cricket for a decade and all the good work will go down the drain.”

The country recently hosted the second edition of the Pakistan Champions League (PCL) that featured international clubs but the event did not go down well with PCB officials, who are trying to bring back top-flight cricket themselves.

The official added that open betting in some tournaments also led to the board’s intervention.

“Some evidence was sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC) after which it asked the PCB to act. We want to make sure that these things are uprooted and discouraged.”

‘Club cricketers will suffer financially and mentally’

Meanwhile, a first-class player Tabish Nawab said that club cricketers, who come from the lower income groups, will suffer if Ramazan tournaments are not staged since they enable a player to make around Rs100,000.

On the other hand, former Pakistan fast-bowler Jalaluddin called on the PCB to adopt a consistent policy, saying the board should not ask the organisers to implement the ICC’s anti-corruption code on club cricket when the same does not event apply to inter-district tournaments.

“Inter-district is bigger than club cricket,” said Jalal. “The board has asked for things which they do not apply themselves which is really frustrating.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2012.