Clean up your act, ICC tells PCB

Dubai:

Taking note of the continuing decline in the governance of cricket in Pakistan, the ICC has given the PCB a hard rap on the knuckles and decided to monitor closely the running of the game in Pakistan. After a two-day board meeting at the ICC's HQ in Dubai - the first since the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the world of cricket - the message of the world governing body to one of its leading members was clear: sort out the game's administration or face the consequences, potentially in the form of sanctions.

A wide-ranging series of measures has been approved by the ICC requiring Pakistan to not only toughen its approach to corruption within the game but to also work alongside the ICC's task force on Pakistan "to carry out any reforms which may be deemed necessary to restore confidence in the administration of the game" in that country.

In this statement lies an implicit recognition and acknowledgment of the administrative mishaps in Ijaz Butt's two-year tenure, as well as the breakdown in relationship between the board and ICC. Under Butt's administration, the ICC has seen a full member attacked by terrorists in Pakistan, an incident that took international cricket away from the country. That almost led to a legal battle between the PCB and ICC and, though it was averted, the PCB didn't even file a report on the incident to the ICC until well over a year later.

The ICC's task force, initially set up to examine ways to bring international cricket back to Pakistan and cushion against subsequent financial losses, has been "reconstituted" for this purpose; in effect, it's brief has been widened to go beyond and look at ways to work with the PCB in improving governance. Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman who heads the task force, is believed to have played a crucial role in the meetings to broaden the force's role. Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman who has also extended a helping hand to the PCB by offering his national side as the first tourists to Pakistan since the terror attacks, has been appointed to the team, which also includes Ranjan Madugalle, Ramiz Raja, Mike Brearley and Dave Richardson, the ICC's general manager.