KARACHI // Pakistan's senate sports standing committee have appealed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to sack cricket board chairman Ijaz Butt to save the game in the country. The committee, which is probing falling standards and mismanagement of funds, has found Butt "incapable" of righting the country's cricketing woes after a six-hour meeting where the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman was questioned on several fronts.
"It is clear that Mr Butt and his team are incapable of running the board which is why I have asked them toresign for the sake of Pakistan cricket," said senator Enver Baig. "I request the President to reconsider the appointment of Ijaz Butt as chairman. Good cricketers cannot be good administrators and so it has been proved." Among several issues, Butt was questioned about the appointment and resignation of the former captain Javed Miandad as director-general of the board.
"The PCB chairman was unable to explain the reasons why Miandad worked for the PCB without signing a contract for over two months," said senator Tahir Mashhadi. "He was also unable to explain why the board tried to curtail Miandad's role." At the meeting, Butt claimed that Miandad had demanded a huge salary and that he had interfered with team selection. "But I admit it was our mistake not to have a signed contract with Miandad," Butt said.
"Miandad asked for a salary which we could not give to him. I regard Miandad highly as a great cricketer but we can't pay him more than what we had offered him." The former captain was offered a salary of 500,000 rupees (Dh45,000), with Butt claiming he had demanded a salary of 1.6 million rupees. Miandad, who was present at the meeting, refuted those claims saying: "Money was never an issue. Even now I am willing to work for the PCB on an honorary basis." * PA Sport
