Thaindian News

Dubai, May 14 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has rejected the legal claims of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on hosting matches of the 2011 Cricket World Cup (ICC CWC).
ICC said it has formally responded to PCB’s legal notice, seeking to clarify factual inaccuracies and misunderstandings in the PCB’s claim.

ICC moved World Cup matches from Pakistan last month because of security apprehensions following which the PCB sent a legal notice to the ICC against the ruling.

“We are naturally disappointed that the PCB has chosen to pursue its grievance with the ICC through legal channels but, having received correspondence from its lawyers, we have now responded,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.

“We used our response to clarify inaccuracies and misunderstandings in the PCB’s claim, including confirmation of the fact that the agenda and the Board papers for the recent ICC Board meetings did very specifically raise the question of whether the ICC CWC 2011 matches assigned to the PCB as joint hosts should be relocated outside of Pakistan.

“We also pointed out that the ICC Board agreed only that ICC CWC 2011 matches should be moved away from Pakistan, not that the PCB should be removed from its position as a joint host of the event itself.

Lorgat dismissed PCB’s suggestion that ICC Board was not empowered to decide that matches should be moved away from Pakistan and that such a decision was “legally flawed”.

“The ICC Board is the policy-making body for international cricket and has broad powers under its constitution.

“The Board’s decision that ICC Cricket World Cup could not be played in Pakistan was taken on the basis of what was best for all 104 of the ICC’s Members.

“The ICC Cricket World Cup is our flagship event. It generates the majority of ICC event income for our great sport and without that income many of those Members would struggle to operate or grow the game in the way they are currently able to.

“Given that fact, we need to deliver a tournament that is safe, secure and, above all, successful and it was on that basis that the decision was taken that matches could not be played in Pakistan,” Lorgat maintained.

Lorgat said he hoped the PCB will reflect on this matter and “withdraw its spurious claims as a responsible Full Member and engage with us in an appropriate manner.”