ad hocism

Pakistan Cricket Board

Pakistan Cricket Board
PCB Logo
Country:	Pakistan
Industry:	Sports (Cricket)
Founded:	1948
First President:	Iftikhar Hussain Khan
Chairman:	Ijaz Butt
Website:	http://www.pcb.com.pk

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is responsible for all major cricket including Test cricket played in Pakistan. It controls and organises all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team.

Following the establishment of Pakistan as an independent state in 1947, major cricket commenced the same year as the local infrastructure had already been established when the country was part of India. Even so, it was not until 1948 that a Board of Control was formally instituted and matches were arranged informally until then. Pakistan was admitted to the International Cricket Council in July 1952 and has always been a full member, playing Test cricket. The team's first Test series took place in India between October and December 1952.

The inaugural Board of Control

The Pakistan Cricket Board was inaugurated on 1 May 1948 as the "Cricket Control Board of Pakistan". and was soon renamed the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan or B.C.C.P. The first meeting held in the committee rooms of Lahore Gymkhana saw HE The Nawab of Mamdot made President and Chairman, with Justice A.R.Cornelius as one of three vice-Presidents. The following year Cornelius became Chairman of the working committee, serving until he relinquished his connection with the Board in early 1953.

The working Chairman was always one of the 3 Vice-Presidents. In April 1957 Ayub Khan imposed three more new Vice-presidents (himself being one of them). Then between December 1958 and September 1969 the post of Vice-President disappeared.

Ad-Hoc Committees

The response to turmoil within the Board has on four occasions been to suspend the rules and appoint an Ad-Hoc Committee. The first Ad Hoc Committee was appointed in September 1960 and did not disband until May 1963 having created a new constitution. The President of Pakistan would now nominate the Board President who would in turn nominate the other members of the Executive Committee to sit for a period of three years. Representatives of the four provincial cricket associations and Government departments formed the Executive Committee. The BCCP was re-organised in the 1970s, and was headed by former cricketers, professional administrators and trustees, who were often businessmen. In November 1976 players' demands for increased salaries reached a crisis and the Pakistan Sports Board took over running the B.C.C.P.'s affairs. Long-serving President, the formidable Kardar, was in the thick of the dispute. The revolt against Kardar forced him to resign in May 1977, and led to a new Ad-Hoc Committee replacing the Board Council in 1978 running Pakistan cricket and again changing the constitution. Provincial cricket associations (CAs) were eliminated and divisional and city CAs became members, giving most of the influence to the city CAs of Lahore and Karachi.

The Board now governed a network of teams sponsored by corporations and banks, city associations and clubs. There is no province-based official team type organization of domestic cricket in Pakistan, and Lahore and Karachi cities are the two top tiers of all cricket, including reservoirs of fresh talent.

Pakistan's cricket was rocked by dissension and controversies over the national team's poor performance during the tour of India and a public uproar forced the end of the Ad-Hoc Committee. The Chairman and team captain Asif Iqbal had to step down. Air Marshal Nur Khan now became Chairman and he saw the banks and other organisations increase their participation on the Board Council in the face of protests from the zonal organisations.

A third Ad-Hoc Committee under Javed Burki took charge of BCCP affairs in January 1994, and made a new constitution including giving a new name, the Pakistan Cricket Board (P.C.B.) It introduced a Chairman and Chief Executive.

After taking heavy criticism on the grounds of corruption and match fixing, the Board was taken over by a fourth Ad-Hoc Committee formed on 17 July 1999 which remains in place despite undertakings from Musharraf to bring it to an end. PCB re-emerged by taking the initiative to sponsor the hugely successful 2004 tour of Pakistan by arch rivals India. The PCB's experiment with the Twenty20 cricket model has also proven popular and hopes to similarly revive popular interest in domestic games. However, Pakistan's early exit from the 2007 World Cup cast a shadow that led to Dr Nasim Ashraf's resignation at the end of 2007.

The major domestic competitions are for the Qaid-i-Azam Trophy, inaugurated in 1953-54, and the ANZ Trophy.

BCCP and PCB Presidents and Chairmen chain

Iftikhar Hussain Khan, Nawab of Mamdot (President and 1948 Chairman) May 1948- March 1950
Justice A.R.Cornelius (Chairman of the working committee) 1949 - May 1953
Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad Khan (President) March 1950 - Sept 1951
Abdus Sattar Pirzada (President) Sept 1951 - May 1953
Syed Makdoomzada Hassan Mahmood (Chairman) May 1953 - Oct 1957
Mian Aminuddin (President) Mar 1953 - Jul 1954
Muhammad Ali Bogra (President) Jul 1954 - Sept 1955
Maj. Gen Iskander Mirza (President) Sept 1955 - Dec 1958
A T Naqvi (Chairman) Oct 1957 - Dec 1958
S M H Mahmood (Chairman) Dec 1958 - May 1959
N M Khan (Chairman) May 1959 - Sept 1960
General Muhammad Ayub Khan (President) Dec 1958 - Oct 1959
Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan (President) Oct 1959 - June 1963

- First Ad-Hoc Committee Sept 1960 to May 1963

Justice A R Cornelius (Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee) Sept 1960-May 1963
Muzafar Hussain (Chairman of the Executive Committee) Sep 1963 - Sep 1966
Syed Fida Hussain (President) 7 Sep 1963 - May, 1969

- from 1966 the BCCP President also acted as Chairman of the Executive Committee

I A Khan (President) May 1969 - April 1972
Abdul Hafeez Kardar (President) May 1972 - Apr 1977
Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain (President) Apr 1977 - July 1978

- Second Ad-Hoc Committee July 1978 to Feb 1980

Lt Gen (Retd) K M Azhar (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) August 1978 - Feb 1980
Air Marshal (Retd) Muhammad Nur Khan (President) Feb 1980 - Feb 1984
Lt Gen. (Retd) Ghulam Safdar Butt March 1984 - Feb, 1988
Lt Gen. (Retd) Zahid Ali Akbar Khan March 1988 - August 1992
Justice Dr Nasim Hasan Shah Oct 1992 - Dec 1993

- Third Ad-Hoc Committee Dec 1993 to April 1994

Javed Burki (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) 13th Jan 1994 - 20th Mar, 1994
Arif Ali Khan Abbasi (Chief Executive) Jan 1994 - May 1996
Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bukhari (Chairman of PCB) April 1994 - Jan 1998
Majid Khan (Chief Executive) May 1996 - May 1999
Khalid Mahmood (President) Jan 1998 - Jul 1999

- Fourth Ad-Hoc Committee 16 July 1999 to present

Mujeeb ur Rehman (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) Aug 1999-Oct 1999

- Dr Zafar Altaf took over when President Nawaz Sharif left office.

Dr. Zafar Altaf (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) Oct 1999-Dec 1999
Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) Dec 1999-2003
Shaharyar Muhammad Khan (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) Dec 2003-Oct 2006
Dr. Naseem Ashraf (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) October 2006 -Dec 2007.
Ijaz Butt October 2008-

Ashraf resigns as PCB chairman

On the day Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of the country, one of his main beneficiaries and closest allies, Nasim Ashraf, offered his resignation as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

His resignation has been sent to the presidency - in Pakistan the president is also patron of the cricket board and the person who appoints the chairman - where a final decision will be taken. In this case, the decision is likely to be taken now by the caretaker president, the chairman of the senate Mohammadmian Soomro, according to Pakistan's constitution. Career obituary-writers will in any case wait, recalling that Ashraf had similarly offered his resignation after the 2007 World Cup disaster, only for it to be rejected by Musharraf at the time.

"Nasim Ashraf has sent in his resignation to the President's secretariat," Shafqat Naghmi, the chief operating officer told Cricinfo. "The next step will be taken from there on whether or not it is accepted."

When asked why, with the Champions Trophy so close, he chose this moment to resign, Naghmi said, "He just said he felt it was his moral obligation to do so. He told all the directors this. He has also said he will be around and working till the new chairman takes over." Such was the confusion on an immense day that Naghmi's resignation was reported by a local TV channel soon after, only to be denied by the official himself.

Ashraf's future had been the subject of intense speculation over the last few weeks. He returned from a holiday in the USA this morning: with impeachment pending against the president over the last few weeks, Ashraf's holiday was seen by many as a timely move to shift away from the public eye. This was hotly contested by the board, the latest attempt being an official SMS sent out to announce flight details of the chairman's arrival. Upon his arrival this morning Ashraf said he was not going anywhere.

If the resignation is accepted, it brings to an end what will rank in time as one of the most blighted and tumultuous administrative reigns in the PCB's history, a feat in itself given the administrations that have come and gone.

Trouble beckoned from the very beginning, in October 2006, when Ashraf replaced Shaharyar Khan. The doping scandal in which Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif found themselves was the first crisis, though it wasn't one of their own making. But their ban and the subsequent overturning of the punishment was the first of many u-turns that characterised the board's bungling.

Criticisms against Ashraf varied: he was thought to be too involved in on-field team matters, the most emphatic example of which was the e-mail rollicking he sent to the team management after a loss to India in the Kitply Cup.

The board's workforce is also said to have ballooned during his time. At the time of Shaharyar's departure it was said to be 300-strong, whereas it is believed to employ nearly 700 people in all today. The benefit of such numbers was not readily seen in small matters or significant ones: during the Asia Cup a minor controversy broke because the PCB forgot to put up India's flag at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Appallingly, this board failed to organize the annual domestic Twenty20 tournament after December 2006, a damning indictment of their ineptitude given that this remains the most successful and popular tournament in the domestic calendar. The failure to ensure that the Rawalpindi Stadium would be ready in time for the Champions Trophy, despite a two-year preparation period, will rank as a bigger administrative failure.

And as a barren international calendar emerged for Pakistan this year, little could be done to organise anything. This was understandable, given how packed the FTP generally is, but the mistruths in claiming that a series against South Africa had been arranged, or that New Zealand were confirmed to play three ODIs in August, were not.

There were also persistent whispers of gross financial mismanagement, though nothing concrete ever emerged. Further blows to credibility came from a series of futile, petty but high-profile court cases against its own players and even employees.

Progressively poorer performances on the field during this time haven't helped matters either, all of which means whoever does come in - and whenever he does - will find the cricket board of this country in as poor a shape as it has been for some time.

Bibliography

Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development throughout the World by Rowland Bowen
First Class Cricket in Pakistan (5 volumes) by Abid Ali Kazi
Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual)
Lahore Times May 1948.
"Ad-hocism in cricket over the decades" Brig (Retd) Salahuddin cricinfo 18 October 1999.
The Times newspaper 11 February 1980.
Dawn Wire Service weekly online news service 1995 - 99.