LAHORE: While the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Board of Governors (BoG) expressed its satisfaction over head coach-cum-chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq’s made road map for the national team, it also confirmed the appointment of acting Chief Operating Officer Barrister Salman Naseer, besides approving city cricket associations’ constitution model.

In its 57th meeting held in Peshawar on Tuesday, the BoG took a briefing from Misbah in detail about his performance he had shown since joining the post in September last year.

“He talked at length on players’ fitness, domestic cricket, event scheduling, team preparation, selection criteria, future plans and the positives of his dual responsibilities,” a PCB press release said.

The BoG appreciated the efforts of Misbah and acknowledged that he is operating in a challenging environment and gave its support.

“I am satisfied with the progress the team is making though I acknowledge a lot of work still needs to be done. Having said that, we are now a different group as compared to what we were when we started. In the past five months, we have significantly improved our fitness levels and the players are also gaining confidence as they are now performing consistently at the international level,” Misbah was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Salman, who has been working as the acting COO since Subhan Ahmad had resigned last year has been confirmed on the post.

Moreover, the BoG approved the model constitution for the city cricket associations, which is in harmony with the PCB Constitution 2019 and Model Constitution for Cricket Associations.

The BoG was updated on the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020, which will be held across Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi from 20 February to 22 March.

Meanwhile, the BoG also approved the PCB financial statements for the period 2018-2019, which highlighted a significant rise in revenue of about Rs6 billion.

“Major constituent being Media Rights from hosting Australia and New Zealand, increase in contribution from ICC and increase in total revenue from HBL PSL after the new right cycle kicked in. Despite this increase in Revenue, the PCB have rationalised its expenses and the corresponding increase in expense is not observed,” the PCB press release said of the revenue.

“Spending on the cricketing expenditures have increased from last year, while there is a dip in administrative expenses as part of cost efficiency endeavors. Given the fact, the PCB will be hosting its bilateral cricket and full HBL PSL in Pakistan, future outlook certainly looks encouraging.”

Moreover, the BoG authorised the PCB management to make a decision on the hosting of this year’s Asia Cup 2020, which is an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) event. In this context, the PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani will represent Pakistan at the upcoming ACC meeting.

The BoG briefed that the PCB will indicate to the ICC in March about the events it will like to host, while the financial and other guarantees will be submitted in September.

The BoG approved the No Objective Certificate (NOC) guidelines for cricketers. Amongst other guidelines the policy allows centrally contracted players to seek a clearance for up to a maximum of three ICC-approved foreign leagues, excluding the HBL Pakistan Super League.

The BoG also applauded the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani and chief executive Wasim Khan for convincing Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to play two Tests, a One-day International and thee Twenty20 Internationals in Pakistan.

“I appreciate the BoG for acknowledging our efforts in getting this series back on track. To emerge profitable in the face of extreme challenges was another big achievement of this regime. If we had failed in our attempts with the media rights partner, we would have earned nothing as the tour could have been potentially canceled and our endeavours for the resumption of Test cricket would have been derailed,” Mani said.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2020