Appeals of Naved, Shoaib Malik adjourned

Islamabad:

An arbitrator has adjourned appeals of Pakistan all-rounder Rana Naved and former captain Shoaib Malik against one-year suspensions and fines.

Pakistan Cricket Board lawyer Talib Rizvi told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore that Malik's appeal has been adjourned until May 29 while Naved's appeal will be heard on June 19.

"Naved's lawyer wanted to make some amendments in the appeal and needed some time," Rizvi said.

Malik's laywer had presented his arguments in the last hearing on May 15, but Rizvi said the PCB needed time to discuss it.

"PCB chairman (Ijaz Butt) was out of country and only returned home yesterday so we will discuss all the legal matters with him before giving our reply in the next hearing," Rizvi said.

The PCB suspended both players for one year and fined them two million rupees ($23,500) each for poor performance and ill discipline during the tour of Australia earlier this year.

Six players filed appeals against suspensions and fines except for former captain Mohammad Yousuf, who has retired from international cricket.

Arbitrator Irfan Qadir said he wanted to wrap up the proceedings as quickly as possible in all the six appeals and wanted it to be transparent.

"Video recordings of all our proceedings will be done so as to bring transparency," Qadir told reporters.

The PCB imposed fines and suspensions on the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan's performance during the winless tour of Australia.

Players launched accusations at each other in a leaked video recording of the PCB inquiry's proceedings.

In the videos, former coaches Intikhab Alam and Aqib Javed questioned wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal's poor performance in the Sydney test.

Alam told the inquiry committee he was "flabbergasted" when Akmal missed an easy run out of Shane Watson and later said he had heard stories about match fixing.