LAHORE: The 57th Board of Governors (BoG) meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), first of 2020, was held in Peshawar the other day. The BoG approved the No Objective Certificate (NOC) guidelines for cricketers. Amongst other guidelines the policy allows centrally contracted players to seek a clearance for up to a maximum of three ICC-approved foreign leagues, excluding the HBL Pakistan Super League, as long they don’t coincide with the PCB-organised events and player workload and fitness regime is properly managed. The CEO will have a final approval right. Further details on the NOC policy will be announced in due course. Previously in 2018, the PCB had implemented a policy, according to which Pakistan players were allowed to participate in only two foreign leagues.
The BoG applauded the PCB Chairman and the Chief Executive for convincing Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to play 2 Tests, 1 ODI and 3 T20s in Pakistan. In relation to this series, the PCB Chairman briefed the BoG on the amicable resolution of a dispute with the PCB’s media rights partner, which contrary to media reports, earned the PCB net revenue of US$3.75million. The PCB Chairman informed the BoG he was able to convince the media rights partner to accept Bangladesh tour as an additional series in the agreement despite it being confirmed a week before the first T20I. However, recognising the media rights partner’s plea that it didn’t get enough time to sell the commercial airtime and based on an independent legal advice, the PCB agreed on the rights fee of US$3.75million.
The BoG authorised the PCB management to make a decision on the hosting of this year’s Asia Cup 2020, which is an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) event. In this context, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani will represent Pakistan at the upcoming ACC meeting (date and venue to be confirmed) and present a proposal that protects the interests of the PCB and is in line with its mantra of not mixing politics with sports.