The former Olympian is likely to table his resignation at Tuesday’s meeting of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) which will be held at the National Hockey Stadium.

The meeting will be presided over by PHF president Qasim Zia with secretary Asif Bajwa, national team’s coach Hanif Khan and the federation’s consultant Tahir Zaman certain to be in attendance.

Akhtar has been Pakistan manager and head coach of the national outfit for nearly a year after being appointed by the PHF until next year’s World Cup in the Netherlands.

During his tenure Pakistan bagged a bronze medal in the last Champions Trophy and gold medal in the Asian Champions Trophy last year, but only could take seventh position at the London Olympics.

Akhtar lost by a narrow margin against a PTI candidate while contesting for a Punjab assembly seat on a PML-N ticket in the recent general elections.

But despite his defeat, the ex-Pakistan skipper is keen on a political career.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Olympian Tahir Zaman, who has joined the PHF some six months back as its consultant after disassociating himself from a dissident group of senior Olympians that had launched a brisk campaign against Qasim Zia-led PHF, has emerged as the likely successor to replace Akhtar.

But according to sources, Tahir will only accept the new assignment if he is appointed as manager-cum-head coach, a demand which is unlikely to be met by the PHF. Further, sources say that current coach Hanif Khan won’t be Tahir’s choice.

In the likely scenario, the PHF will probably bring back Khawaja Mohammad Junaid as Pakistan manager while naming Tahir as the head coach. Hanif could be assigned another role.

There could be changes in the top brass of the PHF with the induction of the new government at the federal level since it has been a tradition that whenever this takes place, the prime minister in his capacity as PHF’s Patron-in-Chief usually resorts to such a move.

When the PPP won the elections in 2008, the then PHF president Zafarullah Khan Jamali and secretary Khalid Mahmood were replaced by Qasim Zia and Asif Bajwa, respectively.

Besides Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai, Pakistan’s biggest commercial centre Karachi has also been mentioned as one of the four hubs of malpractices in the game in the preliminary report of Indian police.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, the PCB chief assured that Pakistan would be part of any campaign against corruption in cricket.

“The PCB has not received any query thus far, neither from the BCCI nor the Indian government. But if any country asks any sort of help we will provide all possible support as we are all united against corruption in the game,” said Zaka.

Three Indian cricketers featuring for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) including Test player Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested in a shocking spot-fixing scam this week.

Zaka further said that the PCB had taken all important steps to avoid 2010-like situation which resulted in suspension of three Pakistani cricketers.

“A strict code of conduct and vigilance system are the two major steps the PCB has taken to protect the players from unwanted persons and to avoid any disgraceful incident,” he remarked.

Former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were caught in London in 2010 following a sting operation by a British tabloid exposing the infamous spot-fixing scandal.

The PCB chief admitted that such events were a great threat to the game of cricket and all stakeholders should unite to deal with the menace.

Zaka said that the PCB won’t tolerate any corruption at any level, adding that all players of the national team attended a briefing where they were informed about precautions they have to take. “The PCB has a separate anti-corruption code now and all measures are also mentioned in the players’ central contracts,” he said.

It may be mentioned here that in order to shield the players from any outside elements, the PCB has also hired a security and vigilance officer to travel with the team and monitor the players’ activities throughout the England tour.

Talking to Dawn, Ijaz urged the authorities concerned to take appropriate action against what he termed the ‘big fishes’ involved in the fresh IPL spot-fixing scandal.

The latest spot-fixing controversy of the IPL had jolted the cricketing world and the ugly story had put reputation of the entire cricket fraternity at stake, he stressed.

Three Indian cricketers, belonging to Rajasthan Royals team in the IPL, namely fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (who has played 27 Tests and 53 ODIs for India), Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by police in the latest scam that surfaced the other day.

According to some media reports emerging on Friday, Sreesanth and Chavan confessed the spot-fixing allegations.

To a question, Ijaz said it was ironic that despite a strict code of conduct put in place by the ICC and non-stop vigilance maintained by the game’s world governing body, corrupt practices were still going on.

“The harsh punishments handed to [Pakistan cricketers] Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir over spot-fixing should have been taken by other cricketers as a lesson. Instead, some of them are committing the same act.

“Therefore, I believe stricter measures and action against all those involved in this [fixing] practice is the need of the time,” he stated.

Ijaz lamented that so far the ICC on its end had failed to detect corruption in the game, noting only media or police unearthed
such scandals in the past.

“The team is well balanced. And [it is noticeable that] whenever Pakistan produced good result in a competition in the past several young players performed vital roles in that achievement and I believe the youngsters [in the current team too] will not disappoint me,” Misbah said here at the National Cricket Academy on the eve of Pakistan squad’s departure to Britain.

Before the June 6-23 Champions Trophy, the green shirts will play two One-day Internationals each against Scotland and Ireland. And prior to starting their Champions Trophy campaign, Pakistan will lock horns with Sri Lanka and South Africa in a couple of practice games.

Pakistan are placed alongside South Africa, India and the West Indies in group ‘B’ for the elite eight-nation contest while England, Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand form group ‘A’.

Misbah reiterated that Pakistan’s recently concluded tour to South Africa would help his charges in the Champions Trophy, to be staged in England and Wales.

“Hopefully, the highly demanding tour to South Africa will enable us perform better in the Champions Trophy. I have repeatedly said that we have learnt and achieved considerably from this [South Africa] tour,” the 38-year-old Misbah remarked.

On their last tour to South Africa earlier this year, Pakistan suffered a clean-sweep in the three-Test series before recovering in the five-match ODI rubber which the tourists eventually lost 2-3. The visitors only won the two-match T20 series on the arduous tour, winning it 1-0 as the other match was washed out.

In order to produce favourable results in the Champions Trophy, the skipper insisted, his team would have to do well in all departments of the game. But the 114-ODI veteran avoided predicting Pakistan’s victory chances.

“There are no favourites for the Champions Trophy. Our target like all other competing teams is to win the Trophy. However, [on the other hand] no one can forecast victory [for a particular team] in ODI and T20 matches, as it all depends on the performance of a team on a given day,” Misbah stated.

“We are clear about our Champions Trophy plans; we know well what we have to do and keeping this in view the team has been selected.”

Asked to comment on his team’s Champions Trophy match against India scheduled to be held in Birmingham on June 15, Misbah reckoned it was negative to just focus on one particular match when the team’s mission was to clinch the tournament.

“When you are planning to win the Champions Trophy you have to think positive, [which is] to win every match, and not just a particular game,” he emphasised.

Misbah hoped that the way pacemen Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan had been performing the fast bowling department would not suffer a lot due to the absence of injured Umar Gul.

“Both Junaid and Irfan are capable of performing in tough conditions and they have the potential to deliver in the ICC event,” the skipper maintained.

“If our spinners get favourable conditions they will also perform [in the Champions Trophy] as we witnessed that Saeed Ajmal also fared well in a Test against South Africa in spin-friendly conditions,” he said.

He said though the conditions during the six-day national training camp in Abbottabad for the Champions Trophy earlier this month were not comparable to England, the exercise gave the players a good opportunity to boost their preparations for the mega event.

Defending Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to appoint Trent Woodhill as short-term batting coach for the Champions Trophy, he said saying the move would be advantageous for the boys.

“I believe members of the team’s support staff always come forward to help the players improve. And it is up to the players how much advantage they take from the [support] staff,” Misbah said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan head coach Dav Whatmore, to a query about the team’s chances in the Champions Trophy, said: “We begin every series with the intention to win it and we have the same intent for this event.

“The Champions Trophy is different from a bilateral series and [knowing this] we will do our best to meet its challenges.”

AFP adds: Meanwhile, Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema said the players had been briefed extensively to avoid any controversy during the tour to Britain.

“We have briefed the players that this is a very sensitive tour and they should maintain strict discipline as we don’t want a repeat of 2010 events,” Cheema told reporters. “Players are told to restrict their off-the-field movement.”

A special “vigilance” officer will accompany the squad in addition to a regular security officer.

Pakistan squad is seeking to win the Champions Trophy and avoid any repetition of the scandal that marred their last British tour in 2010.

The spot-fixing scandal, disclosed by the now defunct News of the World, was related to the deliberate bowling of no-balls in return for money during the Lord’s Test against England.

It resulted in bans on then-captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir as well as jail terms for the trio and their agent Mazhar Majeed.

To a volley of questions at a news conference here on Friday about the procedure adopted in the election of the chairman, which was held secretively in Islamabad the other day, Zaka said the PCB was a valid body affiliated with the ICC and there was no fear of its suspension.

On the instructions of the ICC, the PCB had to get its chairman elected by June 30 otherwise it had to face penalty. To control the situation and to give no chance to any other one to contest the elections, the PCB think-tank prepared a new constitution secretly and without producing it to its general body or Governing Board for approval got approval from the legal department.

The PCB then held election secretively in Islamabad on Wednesday without prior announcement in public and got Zaka elected as chairman for four years.

Asked how the constitution could be called democratic since fair chance was not given to any one except two persons (Zaka and Aftab Ahmad), Zaka said it was not democratic but representative one.

“It has been a much-needed transition and a necessary step in ensuring the development and better administration of the game of cricket.

“The new constitution complies with the recommendations made by the ICC and has been accepted and welcomed by it.

“This constitution was recently discussed at ICC’s Governance Review Committee meeting and subsequently at the ICC Executive Board meeting where PCB’s efforts were publicly appreciated in making the required amendments in its constitution,” Zaka said.

“The salient features of the constitution were also discussed individually with ICC’s president and CEO,” he added.

He said the results of the elections would be sent to the ICC for confirmation.

To a question that the election was kept secret, PCB’s legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi said nothing was kept secret as the point of implementation of the constitution was mentioned in the agenda.

Asked why only two men (Zaka and Aftab Ahmed) were in the contest and no chance was given to anyone, he said everything happened according to the new constitution.

To another question, Tafazzul clarified there was no provision in the constitution for anyone to table a no-confidence move against the PCB chairman. However, he added, the patron had the power to send anybody home.

Zaka said that after implementing the new constitution, the PCB had avoided ICC penalty.

He said according to the new constitution, the chairman could contest the elections for more than two terms.

The national sports policy binds the heads of the sports federation to hold their offices for maximum two terms.

The PCB chairman said those people who had moved the court against the constitution were not the stakeholders and they had their own designs.

Zaka said the ICC allowed three ways to its member board to elect its chairman and the PCB has adopted one of the ways.

“It is more representative than all previous constitutions as it provides for 11 elected members [five regions and as many departments, and one chairman].

“Previously, only six elected members were present. It provides a manner where every year BOG members from different regions will be given representation,” he said.

“It has restricted the procedure of dissolution of BOG and provides for its restoration within set parameters,” he said.

To a question he categorically denied the impression that he got himself elected before the general elections.

Asked various former chairmen of the PCB had given statements against the new constitution, Zaka said they had the right to express their views.

Zaka said the PCB had provided the best of facilities to the players for the Champions Trophy with excellent coaches like Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram and hopefully the national team would perform well in England.

Meanwhile, ICC president Alan Isac and England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke congratulated Zaka on his election as PCB chairman.

“To bypass the general body of an institution to elect a PCB chairman is just not the right way,” said Shaharyar while talking to Dawn on Thursday. “I fear the ICC may suspend the membership of the PCB if it has failed to adopt a democratic process in electing its chairman,” the ex-PCB chief remarked.

The ICC has given June 2013 deadline to the PCB for making its constitution more democratic. Under the ICC instructions all its member countries have to avoid government interference in their respective boards and, for the purpose, an independent democratic system should be adopted by end of June this year. Otherwise, they may face penalties including suspension.

In this regard, the PCB adopted a new constitution which it claimed to be a democratic one. However, its patron-in-chief — which is president of Pakistan — still has all the powers to get his man elected because he can nominate individuals who can run for the elections.

Shaharyar said he had no clue whatsoever how the ICC assessed the new PCB constitution but the way Zaka was elected was certainly not a democratic process by any means.

“We had drafted a new PCB constitution during my tenure whereby the general body was given the power to elect the new chairman. But ironically, our constitution always required approval by the patron,” recalled Shaharyar.

The patron-in-chief also has the power to nominate two members of the nomination committee while two more from the governing board can supervise the process of elections.

Only ten out of a total of 15 governing board members — five from the departments and as many from the regions — have to cast their votes to elect a new chairman unanimously which is not possible without full support of the patron-in-chief.

Expressing his further disappointment over PCB’s undemocratic attitude, Shaharyar said there were reports that the chairman’s election was nowhere on the agenda of the meeting in which Zaka was eventually elected.

“If it’s true then it is nothing but a big joke,” lamented the ex-chairman.

Major regional cricket associations including Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan were also kept in the dark about the elections and its process.

Only new associations such as Larkana, Dera Murad Jamali along with Islamabad and Peshawar — which were recently formed by Zaka himself — attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, two regional cricket associations — Faisalabad and Sialkot — have moved a petition in the Lahore High Court against Zaka’s elections.

Justice Abid Aziz of the LHC has asked the PCB to submit a reply by May 18 over the objections raised by the two cricket associations.

There are also reports that ex-president of Multan Cricket Association, Mian Munir also plans to file a writ petition against the new system of PCB election.

“I am busy in my general elections campaign in Multan, but I have already given a go ahead to my lawyer to move my petition against the elections of the chairman,” Munir told Dawn.

Salman told Dawn on Monday that four seats in the AFP remained vacant after the last president Akram Sahi, secretary Mohammad Zafar, senior vice-president Brig. Iqtidar and the treasurer, a nominee of the PAF, had decided to join the interim committee of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) instead of the Pakistan Olympic Association.

“To fill these four seats, 21 members of the general council out of 33 gathered in Lahore on Sunday and elected Begum Ishrat Ashraf, who was working as vice-president as new AFP president,” Salman said.

Others who filled the remaining two positions are Mohammad Afzal Awan (from Balochistan), who was elevated as senior vice-president from the position of vice-president and Bahre Karam (from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), elevated to treasurer from vice-president.

Salman said though no representative from Wapda, Army, PAF and Navy attended Sunday’s meeting, soon many of them would join his body. He said the representatives from Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Railways, Police, Athlete Commission, Women’s Wing and Technical Officials attended the meeting, which he claimed indicated that majority of the AFP general body members were with him.

To a question, Salman reckoned preceding AFP president Akram Sahi was trying to run one-man show in the federation. Some two months ago, Salman added, Sahi tried to make amendments in the constitution without sending the details of the amendments ten days prior to the general council meeting, which is a constitutional requirement.

He recalled that when the house raised the objections in the last meeting, held some two months ago in Chaklala, Akram allowed the members to send their views on the amendments through letters.

“Almost all the members of the general council refused to admit the amendments and after it, Akram imposed ad-hoc on three provincial bodies including Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and surprisingly exempted Sindh, which was also another unconstitutional act,” he stated.

Salman said he should have fought against the ad-hoc but when Akram himself joined the POA interim committee, the other members were left with no option but to fill the vacant posts.

The SBP is working on a fast track to clear Rs50 million cheques. About 2,600 players, contractors and organisers will get their payments. Former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government had organised the festival.

Moreover, the staff specially recruited to conduct the youth festival is expecting extension in contract, which is going to expire on June 30.

As it is not caretaker government’s job to extend the contracts, the staff has to wait till formation of the next government.

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Finally, the final of the first Lahore Super League was played last week, with the Cricket Centre, Model Town lifting the title by defeating the Model Town Club by a big margin.

The league was started in December 2011 and the final could be possible after a lapse of almost one-and-a-half years. The delay was caused by the busy schedule of some international players of two clubs besides the problems created by rainy season and heavy schedule of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Various Test and international players like Kamran Akmal, his brother Umar, Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed and some others played the final for two clubs.

The league was a good activity under the aegis of the LCCA, reintroduced after three decades. Around 450 matches were played by 132 clubs, providing an opportunity to a good number of players to show their mettle. The LCCA should hold the league annually and share the number of matches with its three affiliated zones. The zones should be asked to hold the first round of the league on their own and their top four clubs should qualify for the main league in which 12 teams should participate to play matches on a single league basis. This way, the zones will have an experience of holding league matches and the LCCA will be able to complete the league programme well on time.

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Lahore has emerged as the hub of big hockey activity, as some 16 teams of big cities are currently participating in the National U-16 Boys Hockey Championship here. Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Sahiwal, FATA, Kohat, Quetta, Mardan, Sialkot, Sargodha, Larkana, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Mirpur Khas, Swat and Lahore are competing in this big activity.

Competitions at this age have always been playing a great role in bringing people from various parts of the country closer.

– File Photo

LAHORE: A good number of cricketers representing different regions have not received their remuneration from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under central contract scheme for the recently concluded domestic season.

Talking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, cricketers said though their respective regions had submitted their names to the PCB for the monthly remuneration on the basis of their performance some three months ago, the payments had not been released as yet.

“We are receiving negative information in this regard, that the PCB has no intention to continue its policy of offering central contract to domestic players,” said the worried cricketers.

Traditionally, 15 top cricketers — in ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories — of a region get monthly payment from the PCB on the basis of their performances in domestic cricket. While top five cricketers get Rs20,000 the remaining 10 receive Rs15,000 per month.

Around 255 cricketers belonging to 17 teams of 15 regions of the country have been getting monthly payments under this PCB scheme.

Sources said the PCB domestic cricket committee was also taking measures on reducing the budget for domestic cricket, and added that it was quite possible the committee would recommend ending the scheme of offering central contract to domestic cricketers.

“While this time the PCB will pay the amounts [to domestic players] it is possible the scheme will not be continued from the next season,” sources said.

Furthermore, sources revealed, the PCB was avoiding taking any significant decisions particularly concerning domestic cricket before the May 11 general elections because the fate of the incumbent PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf also depends on the elections result.

When PCB general manager media Nadeem Sarwar was contacted to get his view on the domestic cricketers’ concerns over non-payment, he said he had no information about it and assured he would inform this correspondence.

However, till filing of this report no confirmed reply from the said PCB official had been received.

The team will also play a One-day International each against Scotland and Ireland prior to the start of the ICC event.

Seasoned campaigner Afridi, who has played 354 ODIs for the country bagging 348 wickets at 34.30 besides scoring 7,201 runs at 23.45, has been facing a lot of criticism for his chequered form during the past several months and finally been axed for the tough contest in England.

The national selection committee had given him a ‘last chance’ in the series against South Africa earlier this year but he failed to make an impact, either with the bat or the ball, in the five-match ODI series.

Also facing the axe is young Umar Akmal who, despite getting repeated chances at the international level, failed to deliver and was often found guilty of throwing his wicket away at crucial junctures.

The team, to be led once again by experienced Misbah-ul-Haq, includes three openers in Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat. However, the squad has a rather weak middle-order line-up comprising senior pros Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, the reliable Asad Shafiq and Umar Amin.

The fast bowling department is looking rather strong spearheaded by talented Junaid Khan and lanky Mohammad Irfan backed up by the young trio of Asad Ali, Wahab Riaz and Ehsan Adil.

Similarly, the spin department has the brilliant spin twins Saeed Ajmal and left-arm Abdur Rehman to boost the team bowling attack.

All-rounder Shoaib Malik and Hafeez can, of course, come as good support in the spin department.

While announcing the squad, chief selector Iqbal Qasim said that Afridi is a fine cricketer but since his form of late has not been of desired level, he has not been considered for the Champions Trophy.

“The career of Afridi is by no means over. It happens in the world of cricket that various top-class cricketers suffer from lack of form and then make comebacks too. So Afridi can also make a comeback if his form improves,” he said.

Iqbal said the team comprised talented, young and experienced players and hopefully they would perform well under the leadership of Misbah.

Iqbal said the team was selected after consultation with the captain and now it was up to him to select the final playing XI from the 15-member side for the matches in England.

To a question, he said no one could predict about the results in the game of cricket but the current team had a lot of potential and could give a tough time to other competing teams.

About the selection of Abdul Rehman, Iqbal said he was selected keeping in mind the conditions in England and the requirement of the team, besides having the nod of the captain too.

Before taking part in the Champions Trophy, the team will play two ODIs against Ireland on May 17 and 19 at Edinburgh. It will also take on Scotland at Dublin on May 23 and 26.

Meanwhile, Director International Cricket Intikhab Alam announced that batting coach Trent Woodhill, an Australian, has been hired for a period of three weeks and will join the team in England. However, his contract can be extended after assessing his performance. Currently, he is doing his duties with Dehli Daredevils in the IPL.

Squad:

Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Amin, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Abdur Rehman, Asad Ali, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Ehsan Adil.