Pakistan Wants Compensation for Tour Shift

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is to seek compensation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for financial losses incurred from shifting its forthcoming series against the West Indies to Sharjah.

The PCB said it would evaluate the financial position at the end of the series of two Tests and three one day internationals next month before demanding remuneration.

"I have already written to the ICC that any losses from the off shore series against the West Indies has to be compensated," chairman of the PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia is reported as saying in Dawn newspaper.

Estimates are that the PCB stands to lose up to US$3 million from the series to be played between January 31 and February 17.

"The initial feed back from Trans World International (TWI, the PCB's broadcaster) is that we would have earned US$2 million had the series been played in Pakistan," Zia said. "Now we will get something around US$1.2 million which is a straightforward loss," Tauqir said.

He said he had spoken to ICC chairman Malcolm Gray about the compensation issue in detail.
"The ICC has agreed but I am not sure in which form they will compensate," he added. "It could be in terms of cash or by awarding (Pakistan) a limited overs tournament."

"I will fight the compensation case forcefully because, tournament or no tournament, I am not willing to bear losses for no fault of ours," he stressed.

Since the ICC has allowed neutral venues to be used, Zia said he would press for the setting up of a committee to decide on the safety of host countries to avoid future neutral series.

"I agree that there should be an ICC committee to give its judgement whether it was safe to play a series in Pakistan, as in this case," he said.

He noted the present ICC disputes committee was there to break the deadlock as to where the neutral venue should be. Had there been another ICC body, he said, it could have visited Pakistan and forced the West Indies to go ahead with the tour as the situation was perfectly normal.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) insisted that its players security and peace of mind could not be guaranteed in Pakistan in view of the continuing hostilities in neighbouring Afghanistan and the preparations for war being made by Pakistan and India on the border of the disputed territory of Kashmir.

SOURCE: Stabroek News.