This is partly because some controversial players remain on the fringes, and partly because it is impossible to be sure what the chief motivation of the current regime is: to clean up the sport and make it one of the few walks of life in Pakistan that is not corrupt, or to do enough to meet the International Cricket Councils’s demands, so that Pakistan’s share of the revenue from global tournaments keeps coming in?
The direction from the top will be decisive. And, as a good start, Ijaz Butt is no longer the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, having lived up to his name as the butt of hatred and humour. However, in a country where who you know matters most, even more than elsewhere, there was no chance of the new PCB chairman being selected on merit.
Three months ago Pakistan’s president Asif Zardari appointed Zaka Ashraf, a friend and stalwart of the Pakistan People’s Party. Ashraf was known not for his interest in cricket, but in banking and — according to his Facebook page – the production of sugar molasses to be refined into ethanol and used in petrol.
So far, as the PCB chairman, he has been skilful in his use of sweeteners. Last month he went to Bangladesh and secured the breakthrough that Pakistan’s cricket has sought since March 2009, when the Sri Lankan team were attacked in Lahore while many of the ‘security forces’ stood by. Ashraf persuaded the Bangladesh chairman to announce that his country would tour Pakistan, subject to an inspection.
In return — how’s this for horse-trading? — Ashraf announced he would support Mustafa Kamal, the Bangladesh chairman, to become the next-but-one president of the ICC, thus sealing his nomination. No matter that the progress of Bangladesh cricket under Kamal’s chairmanship appears to be almost zero.
Another key indicator will come with the appointment of Pakistan’s next full-time coach. Mohsin Khan, who scored a double century for Pakistan in the Lord’s Test of 1982, has been doing a fine interim job, especially with an inexperienced batting line-up, and will make a formidable counterpart to Andy Flower in the coming series.
The favourite to be Pakistan’s next coach, however, is Dav Whatmore, the Australian of Sri Lankan origin. A foreign coach would be better for Pakistan’s political image. It would signal that the country is secure.
Until Pakistan cricket is freed from political interference, and no longer constructed on the basis of the country’s president and his wishes, reform can only be temporary.