LAHORE: In his reply to a show-cause notice issued by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last week, Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has said that he has nothing against the board, but head Coach Mickey Arthur’s behaviour had become ‘intolerable’ which ‘forced’ him to go public with his grievances. Umar, in a defiant manner, also urged the PCB to form a committee of ‘well-reputed senior players and government officials’ to establish whether Arthur was guilty of ‘derogatory remarks’ against the player. In his reply, that repeated many of the allegations he had made against the Pakistan head coach in a fiery press conference last week, Umar promised to apologise to Arthur should the proposed committee find him guilty, but also made clear he expected the same from Arthur if the verdict was in his favour. Last week, Umar had called a press conference and levelled serious allegations against Arthur, including unfair treatment and verbal abuse. “Arthur used abusive words for me in the presence of both Inzamamul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed, which is really painful and highly embarrassing for me as a cricketer who has played for the national team,” he had said at the presser. “Arthur also admonished me asking who allowed me to enter the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He told me that it was better for me to play club cricket instead of practising at the NCA,” he added. Speaking to the media on Wednesday after submitting his reply to a PCB show-cause notice demanding that he explain his actions, Umar said that he had to take a stand against how he was being treated for the past three or four years. He said that he was hopeful that the issue would be resolved properly and said he would accept whatever the PCB decides on the matter. He also requested PCB chairman Najam Sethi to take notice of the issue and have it investigated properly. Calling himself a national cricketer who had ‘produced excellent results for Pakistan’, he said that the law did not allow any person to hurt the feelings and self-respect of another individual. He concluded by expressing full faith in the PCB to resolve the matter efficiently, as it was one ‘of respect, dignity and pride of Pakistan and its nation’. Umar was sent home from England after failing two fitness tests leading up to the start of the Champions Trophy, despite initially being included in the squad. Umar had previously been dropped from a tour of the West Indies in April for similar reasons. He was excluded from that squad after he was the only player, out of 31, to fail the fitness test during a camp held at the National Cricket Academy in March. Published in Daily Times, August 24th 2017.