Saturday 25th October 2008
Shoaib hearing adjourned again
Shoaib Akhtar's protracted appeal to overturn his 18-month ban has been further delayed after the Lahore Court adjourned the hearing.
It is the sixth time the appeal has been adjourned since the Lahore High Court suspended the ban, pending this much-delayed full and final judgment, on July 4.Shoaib was originally handed a career-threatening five-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board in April after the pace bowler publicly criticised the PCB's allocation of central contracts. Shoaib's own contract had been downgraded at the time.
That ban was reduced to 18 months with the addition of a seven million rupees fine (US$84,745), payable to the PCB by an appellate tribunal, in June.
Shoaib, however, appealed that decision by taking his case to the Lahore High Court, believing that an 18-month ban would still effectively end the 33-year-old's Pakistan career.
The Lahore High Court then heard the case on July 4 and suspended Shoaib's ban, pending the final judgment, which paved the way for his selection to Pakistan's 15-man Champions Trophy squad.
That created further issue with the PCB who then argued that Shoaib would have to pay his fine in order to be available to play.
The Champions Trophy was subsequently delayed due to security fears in Pakistan to put the issue on the back burner. However, the problem resurfaced again earlier this month when Shoaib was selected for, and played, in the quadrangular Twenty20 in Toronto despite not paying the fine.
That four-day tournament was the first time Shoaib had pulled on a Pakistan shirt in 2008 and could possibly be the last if the final judgment goes against him.
On Friday, Justice Syed Zahid Hussain heard arguments from the PCB counsel Tafazzul Rizvi and Akhtar's lawyer Abid Hasan Minto.
Justice Syed Zahid Hussain will hear the basic case of Shoaib's ban and the fine on November 17 with the PCB seeking clarification on whether the fast bowler can continue to play without paying the fine first.
Shoaib's hopes of overturning the ban will be complicated as he was already on a two-year probation with the PCB for hitting fellow paceman Mohammad Asif in a dressing room altercation just before the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
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