A report in The Daily Times(24 March, 2008) with regards to comments attributed to Senator Enver Baig that the new government will formally bring the Pakistan Cricket Board under the sports ministry. Any concerned citizen in any civilized country would wonder why it is that this has not been the case in the past.

I disagree with the view that cricketing legends are the best qualified to run cricket. Cricket is a business. And it has to be run as a successful business.

I fully support the Senator’s suggestion and feel, as he has clearly indicated, “the pathetic condition…” of Pakistan cricket is all too clear to see. It lacks any type of long term direction and seems to be run as a disorganized rickshaw service. Pathetic is an apt word.

Lets take a look at the situation, without getting into specifics, of the cricket situation in the country. And since all and sundry love to compare themselves with India whensoever it chooses, compare the PCB to the organization of the BCCI. As in any major sporting discipline, there has to be a structure that is based on sound management principles. I think it would be safe to say that the PCB does not have a successful track record and that the whole organization needs to be overhauled from top to bottom. I disagree with the view that cricketing legends are the best qualified to run cricket. Cricket is a business. And it has to be run as a successful business. We have many top drawer business executives who are capable of getting the job done. Cricket administration is not about knowing the laws of the game, its about management.Although I should add that I am skeptical about those who suggest they know the game so well and then inform us of ‘the wicket having too much grass and therefore we should do such and such” later to find the opposite to be true. Cricket is dying in Pakistan. As in football, a successful club needs to be managed professionally and naturally what helps the enterprise to profitability are the results on the field. Pakistan is not marketed properly. It is not being promoted and we are always going to win occasionally. That reminds me of Geoff Lawsons bold comments before the Zimbabwe series, that we would rout them 5-0 in the ODIs. Excellent. I wonder who he needed to inform? I wish he would give such bold statements on the eve of series against a stronger opposition.For so long, I have never quite understood how Pakistan Cricket has had a disciplinary problem that it could not control. The cricketers playing for Pakistan have no other form of exposure other than the national team. If they are excluded on disciplinary grounds they will not be heard of in any other format of the game in the country. So it should be pretty easy to deal with those that do not conform. Players such as Shoaib Akhtar are a national disgrace and the fact he has not been dealt with in the strongest possible manner suggests that the hierarchy at the PCB is clueless and incapable. The whole structure should have been disbanded after the last World Cup.

What an absolutely shambolic tournament we had. We now have 4 years to organize for the next World Cup and that’s where our focus should be. So all efforts should not be to win the next rubber against the minnows but to build a squad for the next World Cup and to ensure that they are ambassadors of the country. The results prior to that are really not so important. An interesting observation on the India-Pakistan matches shows that India have always triumphed in the serious competitions. Food for thought.

The Australian government is advising Australians to reconsider visiting Pakistan and has closed its consulates in Karachi and Lahore. Thank you very much.
On a much more saddening note for most of the Pakistanis down here, the Australian cricket team has ‘reconsidered’ their tour to Pakistan.

I quote (from The Australian):

…ACA (Australian Cricket Association) is waiting on an independent security report to be completed before making their final decision, although sources told The Australian that it would make little difference as senior players and the ACA are determined not to tour.

It is this determination that makes them win them world cups, no?