PCB recommends "cooling period" for ICL players

Following a dramatic flip-flop by the Pakistan Cricket Board over picking three ICL players in its list of probables for the ICC World Twenty20, a top PCB official told Cricinfo that administrators are considering a "cooling period" ranging between six to 12 months for players who wish to return to national teams from the unauthorised league.

Salim Altaf, PCB's chief operating officer, said that such a cooling period would be on the lines of the ban that was imposed on cricketers who went on rebel tours to South Africa during the Apartheid era. "Of course, the ICC's executive board (it meets in Dubai on April 17-18) will have to take a final decision," he said.

"If you play unauthorised cricket, and then you rescind the contract and want to play for your national side, there may be a recommendation that there should be a cooling period," Altaf said. "It could be six months, could be 12 months. If you remember the days when people were going to play in South Africa, there used to be an automatic ban for two years on anybody who appeared there. So there has been some discussion on having a resolution to have some kind of a cooling period like that."

On Monday, the PCB had named three ICL players - Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir and Naved-ul Hasan - in its list of 30 probables, only to replace them the day after. Altaf said Pakistan's national selectors were unaware they needed to get a clearance from the ICC before announcing the team. "I think initially they thought that they can include these players, but subsequently, they were told that we need a prior clearance from the ICC," he said.

Asked whether these three players had cut all ties with the ICL, Altaf said that he has written to Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL's board, seeking clarifications on their player contracts. "So far Kapil Dev has not replied," Altaf said.