PCB under scanner yet again

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is due to face an inquiry from the Ministry of Sports which has asked for an explanation for Pakistan's poor performances in England and the facilities being given to the foreign coach and trainers. Pakistan lost the four-Test series 0-3 and shared the one-day series 2-2.

The letter has been written by Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler, who is now on the Ministry's Sport Committee and is known to be a vocal critic of the present dispensation in the PCB.

"We have been told that the ministry wants to hold an inquiry into the team's performance and wants details about our coach and trainers," Saleem Altaf, PCB's director of Cricket Operations told PTI. "We have no problems doing that."

Nawaz has been critical of the PCB's decision to appoint Bob Woolmer as coach. Woolmer - the former England batsman who also coached South Africa - was appointed in 2004. The Board has also employed two other foreign trainers, Murray Sevenson and Darryn Lifsun from South Africa and recently named Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan legspinner, as the team's assistant coach.

Altaf said the Board had only been asked to furnish details to the Ministry. In the past, the Board officials have been summoned several times by the Senate and National Assembly committees on sports and culture with some members making their displeasure with the present setup very apparent. After India had beaten Pakistan at home in 2004, a long drawn-out inquiry was held by the senators but it produced no result.