The Pakistan Cricket Board "was forced to postpone the Pakistan Super League T20" since several boards refused to give No Objection Certificates to their players for the cricket tournament, according to the PTI. The PCB had signed Memorandum of Understandings with several foreign players, but boards from the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland "were the only one to issue NOCs to their respective players." A source said, "It is a fact that the PCB had signed MOUs with around 70 to 80 players from different countries including South Africa, England, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand for the PSL." The source added: "But when the board started to approach the concerned boards to issue NOCs to play in the PSL they didn't get a very good response and were downright disappointed. Only the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland had given positive response to the PCB request" (PTI, 2/10).
PLAYERS FRUSTRATED: The PTI wrote the "sudden decision" to postpone the league "has left many players, who were stopped from playing in the Bangladesh Premier League, disappointed and upset." The PCB did not issue NOCs to around three dozen Pakistani players, "many of them notable names," in January to play in the BPL after franchises bought them "for handsome amounts in the players auction" for the league's second edition. A player said, "Now what will happen to our lost earnings? We were hoping that we will be compensated through the PSL, but now only god knows when it will be organized." The players who were not allowed to go for the BPL "lost out on earnings ranging from $280,000 to $300,000" (PTI, 2/9). The PTI reported the PCB will give a presentation to the Int'l Cricket Council and its member boards "soon on the measures taken by it" since the '09 attack on the Sri Lankan team "in a bid to impress on the other countries that security situation has improved int he country." A board member said that the PCB has hired an Army colonel who is with the Inter Services Intelligence and is a counter terrorism expert "to prepare the security brief for the ICC" and its member boards. The source said that Colonel Azam "had been given the task of working with the vigilance and security wing to prepare a comprehensive security plan for presentation" to the ICC and member boards (PTI, 2/10).
PUTTING ITS FOOT DOWN: The PTI noted Pakistan "has objected to the use of Hot Spot ball tracking technology" as well as to the appointment of umpire Steve Davis in the ongoing Test series in South Africa. The PCB has written a letter to the ICC outlining its "objection to the use of the Hot Spot technology in the first Test against South Africa." Davis was the third umpire in the First Test in Johannesburg, "and many of the referral decisions went against Pakistan (PTI, 2/10).
