Pakistan disbands selection committees

Karachi:

Pakistan's cricket board said on Tuesday it had disbanded its senior and junior selection committees, with an interim body headed by former captain Wasim Bari now overseeing selection for both teams.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announcement came after the chairman of the senior selection committee Abdul Qadir resigned in June, citing interference in his work by the national coach, captain and others.

"The PCB chairman (Ijaz Butt) has disbanded the national senior and junior selection committees with immediate effect," said a PCB statement.

"The interim selection committee under Wasim Bari will continue to work till further orders."

Following Qadir's resignation, Bari was named as a one-man interim committee and was asked to work with national captain Younus Khan and coach Intikhab Alam to select the 15-man squad for a tour of Sri Lanka.

Pakistan's team is currently in Sri Lanka, where they will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 international. The first Test starts in Galle on Saturday.

Two other members of the Qadir-led committee - Salim Jaffer and Shoaib Mohammad - did not resign but the latest decision terminates their services.

No other member of Bari's interim committee was announced.

Bari has served on the national selection committee on three occasions, but had to resign after Pakistan's team crashed out in the first round of the 2007 World Cup, held in the West Indies.

The junior selection committee was headed by former Test all-rounder Mohammad Ilyas.

The PCB has employed paid selectors since April 2007 - a move which has now been rescinded and there are reports in the national media that the new selection committee will be honorary.