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PCB: Pakistan Cricket Board

The Pakistan Cricket Board is a sporting organization that is responsible for governing all professional cricket including Test cricket and One Day International matches played in Pakistan. It controls and organizes all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team.

Following the establishment of Pakistan as an independent state of the British Empire in 1947, professional and amateur 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.

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.

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 were eliminated and divisional and city CAs became members, giving most of the influence to the city Cricket Association 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 cricket was involved 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 organizations 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. The Pakistan Cricket Board re-emerged by taking the initiative to sponsor the hugely successful 2004 tour of Pakistan by their rivals India. The Pakistan Cricket Board has competed and has associated itself with the Twenty20 cricket form and 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 and later Dr. Nasim Ashraf’s resigned at the end of 2008.

The major domestic competitions are for the Qaid-i-Azam Trophy, inaugurated in 1953-1954 and the ANZ Trophy.

The governance of Pakistan cricket

In 2010, following the Pakistan cricket spot fixing controversy, and subsequent erroneous statements by chairman Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board is facing the threat of being suspended as a full member by the ICC. Prior to this, on October 12, the ICC held meeting with Butt to discuss his inflammatory statements about the ECB, where he claimed that English players were accepting payment to lose matches. However, the ICC has since made it clear that sanctions will be applied to the member, Pakistan, rather than an individual of its management. To avoid such embarrassing situation in future, the Pakistan Cricket Board has introduced a revised code of conduct for its players in line with recommendations made by the International Cricket Council for stricter implementation of anti-corruption laws. This ICC also stated that if the board didn’t implement the laws then Pakistan could be looking at suspension from International Cricket. The ICC subsequently released a press conference that included the ICC chairman Haroon Lorgat, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Butt the ICC said that they had been happy with the work done so far by the PCB such as sigining new disciplinary contracts with the players and also placing in security and methods of tackling corruption

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) September 1951 – May 1953
Syed Makdoomzada Hassan Mahmood (Chairman) May 1953 – Oct 1957
Mian Aminuddin (President) March 1953 – Jul 1954
Muhammad Ali Bogra (President) July 1954 – September 1955
Maj. Gen Iskander Mirza (President) September 1955 – December 1958
A T Naqvi (Chairman) October 1957 – December 1958
S M H Mahmood (Chairman) December 1958 – May 1959
N M Khan (Chairman) May 1959 – September 1960
General Muhammad Ayub Khan (President) December 1958 – October 1959
Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan (President) October 1959 – June 1963

– First Ad-Hoc Committee September 1960 to May 1963

Justice A.R.Cornelius (Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee) September 1960-May 1963
Muzafar Hussain (Chairman of the Executive Committee) September 1963 – Sep 1966
Syed Fida Hussain (President) 7 September 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) February 1980 – Feb 1984
Lt Gen. (Retd) Ghulam Safdar Butt March 1984 – February 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) 13 January 1994 – 20 March 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–present

Mujeeb ur Rehman (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) Aug 1999 – October 1999

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

Dr. Zafar Altaf (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) October 1999 – December 1999
Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) December 1999-2003
Shaharyar Muhammad Khan (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) December 2003 – October 2006
Dr. Naseem Ashraf (Chairman Ad hoc Committee) October 2006 – August 2008.
Ijaz Butt October 2008 – October 2011
Zaka Ashraf October 2011 – present

Constitution of PCB:

The Pakistan Cricket Board constitution is the law by which the PCB is governed. There is work going on to amend the constitution, making its Cricket Association more democratic and reducing the powers of the Chairman.

PCB Official Website
Pakistan Cricket Official Site

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