Another storm heading Pak cricket8217;s way

SHARJAH, OCT 17: Pakistani cricketers wore a nervous look today as they awaited their selection for the Australian tour amidst reports th...

SHARJAH, OCT 17: Pakistani cricketers wore a nervous look today as they awaited their selection for the Australian tour amidst reports that the match-fixing inquiry at home may have implicated some players. The selectors are scheduled to meet here tomorrow to pick the touring squad on the sidelines of the ongoing Sharjah Cup one-day tournament featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

A top Pakistani cricket official admitted today the selection could pose a problem if the president Rafiq Tarrar, who is the patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB, decides to act on the recommendations of the inquiry commission. 8220;It is up to the president to make the report public and act on it,8221; team manager Yawar Saeed said. 8220;But it can pose serious problems for selectors if the penalities on the players are announced after Monday.8221;

The report by the one-man judicial commission headed by Malik Mohammad Qayyum was submitted to the president yesterday. Media reports quoted Qayyum as saying he found evidenceagainst some cricketers, but left it to the president to decide their fate.

Other sources privy to the report8217;s details were quoted as saying there was evidence against five or six current players, and the judge had recommended penalities ranging from a ban to heavy fines. 8220;Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed,8221; a senior player said. 8220;No one is thinking of the Australian tour yet.8221; It will clearly suit all concerned, if the president delays any action on the report.

The military coup last week, which overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has only added to the uncertainty in cricket circles. Qayyum8217;s commission was set up by Sharif8217;s government last year after an interim PCB report implicated captain Wasim Akram and senior players, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed, in match-fixing charges.

The trio was suspended in July this year by the ad-hoc committee appointed by Sharif to run the PCB. The committee later lifted the ban and made Akram captain till July 2000. The committee itself is now in troubleand facing an uncertain future with it8217;s chief Mujeebur Rehman, considered close to Sharif, being detained by the army. No one is sure who is running the PCB at present, although President Tarrar is one of the only high-ranking survivors of the military coup.

It is feared that major decisions taken by the ad-hoc committee, like the appointment of South African Richard Pybus as coach, may be overruled if a new regime is set in place. Chief selector Naushad Ali, another appointee of the committee, who was to arrive yesterday to join fellow selectors Rameez Raja and Abdul Raquib, did not turn up and is only expected to reach here later today.

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The selectors will decide whether fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and spin ace Saqlain Mushtaq, who missed the Sharjah Cup because of injuries, will be fit for the Australian tour. If both are included, young off-spinner Shoaib Malik and one of the two fast bowlers, Waqar Younis or Mohammad Akram, will be sent home from the squad doing duty here.