This time Lorgat gets it right!
International Cricket Council’s chairman Haroon Lorgat dismissed all rumours regarding his rift with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, by saying that he has no individual conflicts with Mr.Butt. He claims that he has healthy relations with
the PCB, and believes that the game will not be affected by recent issues as cricket is beyond that. He also said acts of individuals should not affect entire institutions.
“I have no individual conflict with Mr http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128. The game is bigger than any individual and I would not want to hold Pakistan cricketers responsible for what you might consider a poor relationship between two individuals, and
there is none. Whoever the person is in the board, I am prepared to work with him,” said Lorgat while addressing a tele-conference with the media.
He said that he will continue to meet and work with the PCB chairman. However, he did advise the PCB chairman to be careful in all the statements he issues to the press.
To give a short recap - Ijaz Butt had a scornful outburst earlier this month, where he claimed that there was loud and clear talk in the bookies’ circles that England players had earned huge sums of money to lose the third ODI
at the Oval.
That had sparked a legal battle between the two boards, PCB and the ECB, the latter asking for a formal apology to the England cricketers for his accusations, which were not backed with proofs.
That is not all; the PCB chairman had also waged a serious war of words with the ICC chairman over the temporary suspension of the three alleged Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir after the spot-fixing
scandal at Lord’s.
Ijaz thought that suspending the players without prior evidence is a rather premature act, and can, has, cost the Pakistan cricket team heavily, as those players were the match-winning players of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 side – especially the two opening bowlers Mohammad
Amir and Mohammad Asif.
Salman Butt sent his appeal to the PCB yesterday against the provisional ban, and that appeal has been acknowledged by Lorgat. He assured that the entire spot-fixing investigations are being expedited and the results will come
forth without further a due. However, he did mention that he has not received any appeals from the two alleged bowlers yet.
Pakistan cricket team was under immense pressure when the spot-fixing scandals emerged, everyone seemed to be turning against them. Many of the former cricketers, current cricketers and commentators heavily criticized the team,
but the most vociferous was Ian Botham, who had quite an extreme view. He said the Pakistan cricket team should be banned from playing cricket. In reaction to that Lorgat responded by saying:
“We can’t ban any nation from the game for the mistakes of a few individuals,” he said. “There are other provisions within the ICC that allows suspension of members but that is certainly not something we are contemplating.”
Moreover, the ICC chairman confirmed that the series with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 will continue according to schedule.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 strongly feels that the relationship between the PCB and ECB at the moment should not affect the working of the task force. He believes that the entire unit will deal with this whole situation maturely and will be
above all the issues that are happening at the moment.
It does seem that finally the relationship between ICC and PCB, which at one point were deteriorating, are moving in a positive direction. Both the parties are trying to rise above the problems that had marred progress in their
rapport. With Lorgat making it very clear that issues are not taken on an individual or personal level – it is not Haroon Lorgat versus Ijaz Butt, but it is rather ICC versus PCB. The problems of the institutions should be dealt on an institutional level and
should not be based on personal grievances. This time, it seems, the ICC chairman got it right.
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