Pakistan Cricket 2011 - Mushtaq Ahmed urges PCB to discipline players, Politics harm sport
Pakistan’s former leg-spin-bowler, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, to enforce discipline in the country’s cricket to avoid embarrassments, such as the Afridi debacle, in the future.
Ahmed, who is currently the spin-bowling coach of England’s national team, insisted that the PCB should award severe punishments to any player, who breaks discipline, and, disregards the rules and regulations of the cricket board.
Talking to newsmen on the matter, the 40-year old leg-spinner said:
“I think an example must be set on disciplinary matters. If a player starts thinking of himself as bigger than the game and tries to impose his will unfairly and doesn’t rectify his behaviour despite repeated warnings, then all http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenneth-Shuttleworth-c70966 on him.
There must be no compromise on discipline”.
Mushtaq, who last represented http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, insisted that although the matter has been resolved between the PCB and Afridi, the intervention by the government will harm Pakistan cricket in times to come.
He was of the opinion that the PCB as the sole body running cricket in Pakistan should not let the government officials influence internal matters of the board and should devise a policy to tackle such matters on their own.
Pakistan Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, convinced both parties to resolve all outstanding issues outside court, since Afridi had filed a petition against the PCB, after the board revoked his central contract and No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Apparently, Afridi has irked the PCB, after he blasted insults at the board officials when he was removed from the one-day captaincy of Pakistan last month. Afridi had said in interviews that a Lahore based group under the leadership of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Ilyas-Mahmood-c76948 (the
father in law of cricketer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Farhat-c64218) had orchestrated his removal as the skipper of Pakistan.
Afridi also announced his retirement from international cricket and clarified that he will not represent Pakistan as long as Butt was PCB chairman. After these bitter remarks the PCB revoked the NOC and terminated his central contract, barring him from playing
any form of cricket outside the country.
However, Afridi had already signed a contract with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789, and required the NOC to play in the ongoing Friends Life T20 tournament in England and he also needed the document to take part in the upcoming, Sri Lankan Premier League.
After the board refused to resolve issues with the all-rounder, he opted to take the board to court to reclaim his NOC.
Now, the matter has been resolved and it is believed that the PCB will give Afridi the NOC he requires after completing some formalities.
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