Ehsan Mani discourages PCB from boycotting ICC awards ceremony – Cricket News Update
Former International Cricket Council president http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ehsan-Mani-c55791 has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board to abandon the idea of boycotting the upcoming ICC awards ceremony, following the omission of Saeed Ajmal’s name from the shortlist for an ICC award.
“It will be a childish act,” said Mani. “The PCB supporting their cricketer is fine and that is within their right. But boycotting the ceremony will marginalise us. The PCB should use other fronts to protest the decision and avoid such embarrassment in the
future,” Mani said while speaking to Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper.
“They should raise the matter in the next ICC board meeting and call for an inquiry on the selection process made for this year.”
Ajmal’s omission from the final shortlist for the ICC’s Test Cricketer of the Year award raised a hue and cry, as fans and former cricketers lashed out at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s decision. Having claimed an impressive 72 Test wickets during the qualifying period for the
award (August 4, 2011 to August 6, 2012), including a spectacular 24 at 14.70 during http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s 3-0 whitewash of England earlier this year, the wily off-spinner seemed all but guaranteed a spot in the final nominations after being included in the longlist.
However, the final shortlist, when revealed, was whittled down to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HM-Amla-c1557 (both South African).
The PCB lodged a complaint with the ICC, requesting the governing body to reconsider the case of Ajmal. However, the ICC shot down the request, claiming that the entire procedure for selecting and short-listing candidates was monitored by Ernst & Young,
an independent auditor, leaving no room for the ICC to intervene.
A similar situation occurred in 2010, when the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501. However, in that case, Swann had failed to make it to the longlist for the award, and the process for selection and
nomination had been under the control of the ICC, who promptly included his name.
Meanwhile, the ICC’s refusal to reconsider led the PCB to threaten a boycott of the event due to be held in Colombo on September 15, with chairman Zaka http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-c46397 claiming that the board would “probably have to give a second thought to even boycott the function
as a robust protest”.
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