Ad-hoc commities

[Zainub]

the reason Shehryar Khan is the Chairman is not because of his non-existent cricket knowledge or his pitiful commercial acumen; he runs the PCB because after 30 odd years in the Foreign Office

It also helps that the president, aka patron in chief of PCB is your admirer (for some reason).

PS: If I have never mentioned it before (which I admit is unlikely) I am not comfortable at all with the fact that Mushy should have anything to do with the cricket board - it misleeds people (especially outside of Pakistan) in thinking that PCB is a state owned, state funded and state run organiasation, which it is not. Plus, the President of a country like ours should be busy enough with other things then to poke his nose in relatively trivial issues like these.

[Captain]

Originally Posted by Zainub

Mushy should have anything to do with the cricket board - it misleeds people (especially outside of Pakistan) in thinking that PCB is a state owned, state funded and state run organiasation, which it is not. Plus, the President of a country like ours should be busy enough with other things then to poke his nose in relatively trivial issues like these.

Thats a fair point and maybe mushy should see into it.

[Orchid]

It seems my understanding of the Standing Committee’s role was wrong. I may be wrong on this one too, but I have just come to know that in the absence of a constitution, PCB does not report to anybody (except the President), not even the Ministry of Sports, so there is nobody that can hold PCB accountable for its actions. The Senate Standing Committee on Sports is the only other body, other than the President, that gets to question the PCB on its actions. The finalization of the constitution appears to be the Standing Committee’s priority and despite promising to finalize it, PCB has not been able to do so. The latest summons for Shehryar Khan could be for this. If this is the case, then, maybe it’s not a bad idea to have a committee doing the oversight duty, at least temporarily, to bring some accountability.

Originally Posted by Maranello

- the reason Shehryar Khan is the Chairman is not because of his non-existent cricket knowledge or his pitiful commercial acumen; he runs the PCB because after 30 odd years in the Foreign Office

Maybe so, but it is during his tenure we got a professional coach; our players got centrally contracted and promising ones got retainers; serious thought is being put into having professional selectors and specialist coaches.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Orchid

during his [Shehryar Khan's] tenure we got a professional coach; our players got centrally contracted and promising ones got retainers; serious thought is being put into having professional selectors and specialist coaches.

Exactly, and a lot more besides - the domestic cricket set-up has been re-organised, meaningful sponsors have been found for the first time for local sides, the National Academy at Lahore has been revitalised (according to Woolmer, one of the best cricket academies he has seen anywhere in the world), physical fitness and training has been made a priority for all contracted players, and so on. When I said SK did not have a cricket background I was certainly not castigating him for his record at the PCB; rather I was pointing out that the political side of things should come easy to him due to his background. It is to his credit that despite his non-cricketing background, he has done more for cricket than most of his predecessors ever did.

Personally, I am not particularly concerned about the President being the nominal Patron of the PCB either - it's common in most countries; e.g. in the UK, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Edinburgh and HM are patrons/chairs of numerous sporting and similar charities, and the UK is certainly not unique in this regard. The President of Pakistan, being in theory a ceremonial head of state, is the right person to perform similar duties in Pakitan, and hence has always had a nominal role at the top of various sporting bodies, not just the BCCP/PCB. Similarly the governors (who are also in theory not part of the ruling executive) have many nominal roles in various public bodies - nothing wrong with that either. The Senate Standing Committee, as you point out Orchid, is merely holding the PCB to account on behalf of the government and the people - fairly straightforward really, and not something that perturbs me. If that was the biggest "problem" with Pakistan's Parliament, we would be in very good shape indeed!

[Zainub]

It is to Shehrayar Khan's credit that he took the bold steps that were required, particularly with regards to modernising the way cricket is run in this country and making it more professional.

However given that the PCB is listed a private organiasation under the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, then it should be in my opinion run like all other non government buisness companies - having a proper board of directors and then a chairman elected from amongst them - not like this where you get the patron in chief, i.e. president hand picking some one he likes as chairman and then the chairman gets to make his own commities.