PCB gives up demand for neutral venues for WC matches

By pratik
for Cricketain.com

Published: July 31, 2009

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Karachi: Pakistan Cricket Board has given up the demand of hosting its quota of World Cup matches at neural venues and is instead trying to get the maximum financial benefits from the ICC, said PCB chairman Ejaz Butt.

“We have given that demand up (hosting World Cup matches at neutral venues) on the advice of our lawyers. Because there is no clause in the agreement between the IDI board of the ICC and the four World Cup co-hosts which allows matches to be held at neutral venues. So that option is out of question,” Butt told reporters in Islamabad after attending a hearing of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports.

Butt said that the PCB tried its best to get its share of matches shifted to Dubai and Abu Dhabi but couldn’t convince the ICC.

“The situation now is we can’t host our share of matches at home or at neutral venues so naturally we are trying to extract maximum benefits from the ICC,” he said.

Butt, though, refused to comment whether Pakistan had also demanded that the ICC and other host nations pay it earnings from gate money and hoardings of the 14 matches shifted out of the country besides the hosting fees of those ties.

“You can speculate, I cannot divulge everything. But obviously we are trying to get maximum financial benefits from the disappointment of losing our share of the World Cup matches,” Butt added.

The PCB chief also said that they are trying to reach an amicable solution with the ICC, which he says is held up over two issues.

“I can say there were six points on which we had discussions with the ICC. After my recent meeting with ICC President David Morgan, four have been resolved but two remain unresolved.”

These two issues, said Butt, were paramount in resolving the dispute between the ICC and PCB, which had threatened legal action over cricket’s governing body after it shifted the 2011 World Cup matches out of the country.

PCB, though, has now decided to go for an out of court settlement in its effort to solve the crisis.

“I can say this much we are definitely going to have an out of court settlement on this issue. There will be no legal action from us. We are hopeful that by our next meeting, sometime in second week of August, we will also resolve these two issues,” he said.

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