Former Pakistan cricketers urge PCB to boycott http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 awards – Cricket News Update
Former Pakistan cricketers on Thursday urged Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to boycott the annual awards ceremony of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a protest against wily off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal’s omission from the list of nominees for Test Player
of the Year award.
Former Pakistan skipper and wicketkeeper batsman, Rashid Latif, termed Ajmal’s omission from the awards list as unjust and asked PCB and Pakistan players to boycott the awards ceremony in order to convey their reservations.
"The way the ICC has ignored Ajmal is unjust and the PCB must convey its reservations by boycotting the awards ceremony in Sri Lanka," said the former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084, who played 37 Tests and 166 ODIs.
Ajmal was one of the leading contenders for the Test player of the year award, after having claimed 72 Test wickets in 12 Tests played between August 4, 2011 and August 6, 2012, the qualifying period for the accolade. The tally also included his impressive
figures of 24 scalps at 14.70 during the 3-0 Test series whitewash of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, the then world number one, in January this year.
However, an independent 32-member jury, comprising former players, board officials and media persons, provoked anger in Pakistan after excluding the promising off-spinner from the shortlist, which includes Australian skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758
captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vernon-Philander-c2753.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohsin-Hasan-Khan-c77595, a former Pakistan opener and the ex-PCB chief selector, reckoned the current process to shortlist players is flawed, insisting it should not come down to personal preferences.
"This ICC process to shortlist players is clearly flawed because cricket is all about performance, not personal likes and dislikes. Better if the PCB boycotts the awards function," said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319, who was the coach of Pakistan team during the 3-0 rout of England
earlier this year.
Khan further said that any such move from the board would send a strong message to the apex body.
Another former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali urged the board not to accept the decision, saying the decision to exclude the wily offie is “inexplicable”.
"The decision to leave out Ajmal is inexplicable and Pakistan must not attend the ceremony," he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 had also boycotted the ICC awards in 2009 when their deserving players were ignored.
The ICC awards are due to be held at Colombo, on September 15, 2012.
Tags: