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Published 13 Jan, 2007 12:00am

PCB ad hoc body to get briefing on pension plan

LAHORE, Jan 12: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ad hoc committee will be briefed over the final steps taken to set up pension fund plan for former Test cricketers in its meeting to be held in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The PCB appointed committee, headed by one of the ad hoc committee members Mueen Afzal, had prepared the final plan to pay pension to each cricketer who played Test cricket for Pakistan till 1978. Another plan to entertain those cricketers who represented Pakistan after 1978 will also be finalised in the second phase.

In the first phase, the cricketers who played nine Tests will get Rs15,000, 10-20 Tests will receive Rs20,000 while those former players who have worn Pakistan Test cap for more than 20 times will be given Rs25,000 every month.

In case of the death of any cricketer his family will be entitled to get the stipend.

Meanwhile, there are reports the PCB will also bring retired umpires and scorers under this plan in later stages, however, it has totally ignored those cricketers, the pioneer of the country's cricket, who played unofficial tests against the then world’s best Test sides. In fact, their performances from 1948 paved the way for Pakistan’s inclusion in Test cricket in 1952.

Though a good number of cricketers, who played for Pakistan in unofficial tests, later found a place in the Test side in 1952, a few of them like first captain of Pakistan Mian Mohammad Saeed, Mohammad Amin, Munawwar Ali Khan and some others could not play Test cricket for different reasons.

Moreover, the ad hoc committee will also review two important reports – one related to human resource while another one to financial audit.

Well-informed sources told Dawn that the report related to the financial audit raised some objections over the missing record of the tickets amounting to Rs356,000 issued during the home series against India in 2003-04.

The audit company also raised many other financial objections. But sources said it would be a hard task for the current PCB to probe such cases any more since it will bring a bad name to the board.

The ad hoc committee also has a heavy agenda to discuss other points including malfunction of floodlights during the third ODI between Pakistan and the West Indies in Lahore last month and the recommendations received at the one-day PCB workshop held in Lahore recently.

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