'Clown in a village circus': Ex-PCB chief Ramiz Raja hits out at Mickey Arthur's appointment as team director

Former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja has lambasted the appointment of Mickey Arthur as the new director of the team. “A first-of-its-kind coach/director of cricket picked to run Pakistan cricket remotely, whose loyalty is first with his county job than Pakistan cricket. This is as crazy as a clown in a village circus,” Ramiz said. He also took shots at the PCB chairman Najam Sethi and his cricket management committee. “A PCB chairman who doesn’t understand cricket, probably was not even good enough to make it to the XI in a club game, heads a cabal of political, petty-minded club runners for a management committee to run Pakistan cricket affairs, who are on a Rs 12 lakh a month salary,” Ramiz said. Ramiz’s claim of the cricket management committee members getting handsome monthly salaries was dismissed by a senior official of the board, however. “It is totally incorrect and as per service rules, management committee members get a meeting allowance and daily allowance and PCB provides accommodation for outstation members.” Sethi replaced Ramiz as the PCB chairperson after his appointment to the office by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif last December. Ramiz, after initially lashing out at the changes, had been quiet for a while. Meanwhile, Sethi has said that since Ramiz draws a monthly pension from the board he is obliged to not criticise its policies or officials as per the code of conduct. “A reliable source said that the cricket management committee which was initially appointed for four months has been given an extension by the patron-in-chief until the new governing body is formed under the old constitution of 2014”, PTI reported. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.