Pakistan rejects England's Oval compensation demand by AFP

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Ground:	Kennington Oval, Kennington
Scorecard:	England v Pakistan
Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan
Event:	Pakistan in British Isles 2006

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DateLine: 10th October 2006

 

Pakistan has rejected a compensation demand by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the forfeited Oval Test in August, official said Tuesday.

 

"We have officially written a letter that the Oval Test not being completed is a case of cause and effect and we are not going to pay. The cause was umpire Darrell Hair and not us," PCB director operations Salim Altaf said.

 

The ECB had last week written to the PCB that it incurred losses of 800,000 pounds (1.5 million dollars) after Pakistan team refused to resume play on the fourth afternoon in protest at being penalised for ball tampering.

 

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was cleared of tampering charges but was handed a four-match ban for bringing the game into disrepute over his protest after a disciplinary hearing of the International Cricket Council.

 

The Test was awarded to England on forfeit - the first in Test cricket's 129-year history.

 

The ECB said it had to return 40 percent to fans with fourth day tickets and a full refund to those with fifth day tickets.

 

Former PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan told AFP that his successor Nasim Ashraf was briefed about the Oval Test standoff.

 

"We had outrightly rejected ECB's demands when it was verbally told to us earlier this month and we are not ready to pay because it was not our responsibility," Khan said.

 

Khan resigned from his post on Friday, saying he was hurt over the Oval fiasco and Younis Khan refusing to lead the team.

 

Younis, however, agreed to lead the team for the ongoing Champions Trophy in India, after the new chairman convinced him.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)