Guard up PCB

The cordial relations would play a huge role in determining how much international cricket a team plays in future.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) threw a tantrum when the Big Three announced themselves.

Like a kid striving to gather enough mates to rally against the bully on the playfield, the PCB knocked a few doors before it realised that it had been left all alone. The International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting, where approval was given to a number of structural and financial reforms, was a headache for the PCB. The then board chairman, Zaka Ashraf, took a stance and stood by it, only to realise that Sri Lanka was the only other country to side through and through.

The situation is a precursor to what may lie ahead for the PCB. Bilateral series are now going to be held with ‘contractually binding’ agreements between the participating boards. The Future Tours Programme, which determined a team’s schedule, will no longer be effective and bilateral relations will play a huge role. Paranoia, somewhat justified, would lead us to believe that the PCB is likely to be left alone — just like the country has been when it comes to hosting international cricket. Hence, acting reasonably suspicious, the PCB understandably opposed the Big Three.

But, what makes things even more worrying is that the PCB has witnessed chaotic functioning at the top management level. Ashraf, who was suspended due to an election process that was dubbed dubious, was replaced by Najam Sethi last year. The veteran journalist became a ‘caretaker’, but was then sidelined after the court reinstated Ashraf. If this much comedy and musical chairs were not enough, there were still more chuckles as Sethi was brought back by the prime minister after the ICC meeting. It almost felt as if Ashraf was brought in for the ICC meeting and sidelined as soon as that fiasco was over.

The bottomline remains that the fiasco at the board has gone on for too long. After over six decades, the PCB remains in a fix. The board chairman’s post has become nothing more than a political appointment, with the lucrative seat seemingly being used to oblige those who have had little to do with cricket. Just like the kids’ playground where the vice-captain of a team would be the captain’s right-hand man — even if he was not suitable for the post — the PCB chairman is appointed by the board patron, who happens to be the country’s premier. With so much off-the-field meddling by the government, the PCB’s membership with the ICC remains under threat. The ICC had asked governmental interference to be removed. But it has continued to be a part of the PCB set-up.

One can argue that the team’s performance has remained unaffected by all these shenanigans. However, the fact is that the countries’ cricket boards have a huge role to play in the aftermath of the passing of the Big Three proposals. The boards will be the ones, which will now enter into agreements with fellow boards and decide when and where their teams would take the field in a bilateral series. Given this, inconsistent policies will adversely affect Pakistan’s schedule. The eight years ahead are crucial and cordial relations would play a huge role in determining how much international cricket a team plays.

While it is already an embarrassment that the PCB chairman’s hot seat is swung from one person to another, it would be impractical to assume that other countries won’t take notice of this mess. If Pakistan is really so worried about its position at the international level, why not earn some respect by first setting its own house in order — once and for all — with a consistent and long-term plan that other countries not only admire but pay heed to. Ever-changing chairmen and a continuously shuffling management is not the image that Pakistan cricket should be portraying right now — given the crucial role the PCB leadership now needs to play after the passing of the ICC reforms.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.