ICC Clamps down on the PCB: 30 days to reform or face sanctions
Following the recent scandals and the controversies surrounding the Pakistan cricket team and the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, it was only a matter of time before the International Cricket Council (ICC) took some stern action. After a lot of deliberation and high level meetings, the ICC has decided to give the PCB a little bit of leeway; 30 days of leeway, to get its act together and reform its council or stern action will be taken. Now the question will remain as to whether the PCB can act in these 30 days or will the ICC have to take action.
The ICC is the international governing body of the sport of cricket. It was formed in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference by cricket representatives from England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. In 1965 it took on the new name, International Cricket Conference, and in 1989 became the International Cricket Council. The ICC is made up of 105 members; out of which it has 10 full members, who play official test matches, 35 associate members and 60 affiliate members. The role of the body is to govern the rules and regulations of the game along with setting up international tournaments and checking the conduct of the individual member countries. It does this through the ICC Code of Conduct. It usually has the final say when it comes to matters of international cricket.
The PCB started out its life as the Board of Control in 1948, one year after the country gained independence from England. The Board of Control’s official name was the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan and this continued until 1994 when the name was changed to Pakistan Cricket Board. The PCB was admitted to the ICC as a full member in 1952 and has been involved in test matches since its admittance. The current chairman of the Board is http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128. Recently through, after some serious ineptitude and concerns about corruption and match fixing, the PCB has fallen from grace in the eyes of the ICC and the recent announcement of the Council is proof of this fact.
Recently, during the tainted and highly controversial Series that Pakistan played against England, a lot of claims of cheating and corruption entered the picture. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 was accused of spot fixing and allegations flew left and right with the chairman of the PCB even going so far as to accuse the entire
England team of cheating. The tainted Series saw three players sent home and Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat in all the test matches and almost all the rest of the matches played in the Series. It was hugely demoralising for the team and the country and a lot of people put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Chairman of the PCB.
After the events of the England-Pakistan Series, the ICC sat down to investigate what exactly took place and what could be done to save the reputation of the sport of cricket. A lot of talk was spreading about the death of cricket due to spot and match fixing allegations and numerous fans of the sport were claiming that the sport itself was tainted. The ICC had to act fast in order to save the sport that was under its charge.
After deliberating for over a month, the ICC has decided to highlight the problems and issues surrounding the PCB and cricket in Pakistan. The ICC is directly trying to target corruption within the game in Pakistan and also trying to amend the behaviour of Ijaz Butt. The ICC Pakistan Task Force, headed by Giles http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120, has made a number of recommendations to the ICC and to the PCB which seem likely to go ahead now. The first was an anti-corruption education programme for the players and the management of the team in order to rid this menace from the depths of Pakistani cricket. The second measure was that no official of the PCB will make accusations and allegations against another team or players of that team. This seemed to be in direct reference to Ijaz Butt’s statements regarding the ECB and the England team being guilty of corruption as well.
The PCB has 30 days to implement these initiatives otherwise sanctions could be placed onto the Board of Pakistan and failing that, the PCB and eventually the team can be banned from international cricket. This will be a huge blow to the country, where cricket is the most beloved sport among its citizens. We will have to wait and see if Pakistan is able to implement these changes or whether it faces sanctions in a month’s time.
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