Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

In a strong reply to the legal notice sent by Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain, the PCB has asked him to pay Rs 250 million rupees (approx US$3,210,891) in damages within two weeks.

On September 19, Moin sued the PCB and demanded Rs 100 million (approx US$1.3m) over its claims that he was involved in recruiting batsman Mohammad Yousuf for the ICL. Moin said “false and engineered statements” were made by the PCB that he pressured Yousuf to join the ICL, and that when the agreement was not finalised, Yousuf paid the player’s fee back to him.

Speculation in Pakistan suggested Yousuf will become an ICL player though the PCB warned him last week that he could face a life ban if he joined. Yousuf signed a contract with the ICL in the wake of his omission from Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 last year, but the board later convinced him to cancel his contract and instead try and sign up for the IPL, a league approved by the national boards, as well as turn up for national duty.

Pakistan have “formally invited” West Indies to play two Tests in November in yet another attempt to fill the gap created by the postponement of the Champions Trophy.

Pakistan have been deprived of Test cricket in 2008 after Australia postponed their tour of the country for Test and ODI series, in March. They hosted the Asia Cup in June-July, but the Champions Trophy, which was supposed to begin on September 12, was also postponed after five countries said they wouldn’t participate in the tournament due to security fears.

Pakistan’s last Test was in India in December 2007 and their next Test series is in January 2009 when they host India. Looking at the bright side Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer said that “Unfortunately, we don’t have much cricket in coming months, but 2009 is going to be a packed season for us and our team will not have enough breathing space.“

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.

So the CT has been ‘postponed’..South Africa has expressed their reluctance to host the tri-series, the Sri Lankan series is looking doubtful due to a ‘ridiculous amount’ quoted by the television sponsors (or something to that effect)..and in search of cricket, and revenue, the board and the players are hoping for something to drop out of the sky.

Why, since there is nothing else on the horizon, can’t they schedule the long overdue domestic Twenty20 tournament in this barren period then? It was scheduled for start of the year, then got postponed due to elections and the Pentangular Cup as well as Geo Super’s stint off-air, then due to the Asia Cup and as fate had it, Pakistan’s most popular domestic competition was never held in the 2007-08 season.

It’s not the ideal substitute for an international series (but is a Twenty20 quad tournament in Canada??) but it will atleast give the players something to do as well as the Pakistani awam and will no doubt take pressure away from the ridiculous situation the PCB finds itself in…

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Faras Ghani.

Pakistan are unlikely to go ahead with their planned one-day series with Sri Lanka later this month because of alack of sponsor interest.

The five-match limited-overs series was arranged to fill a scheduling gap after the Champions Trophy was postponed. But a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said: “Efforts to organise matches with Sri Lanka encountered difficulties. “The way things stand at the moment, it is highly unlikely that the series will be played.”

The eight-team Champions Trophy was scheduled to take place in Pakistan from 12-28 September but the International Cricket Council postponed the tournament until October 2009 because of security concerns.

This article at Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan has been composed by Teeth Maestro.