Pakistan's ongoing efforts to clean up its cricket house has succeeded in pushing the threat of ICC sanctions off the table for now at least. The ICC had given the PCB a 30-day deadline - which finishes today - at its last board meeting to implement a series of anti-corruption measures, working in conjunction with the Pakistan Task Team (PTT). Two teleconferences between the PTT and the PCB since, however, have been enough to suggest that the PCB has taken the ICC's initial warning in the right spirit.
In the time since the warning, the PCB has considerably tightened up player code of conducts, appointed a full-time anti-corruption/security officer, set up an integrity committee and begun the process of the ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct within its domestic set-up.
The players' code of conduct, which they sign before going on any tour, now includes specific references to not making cricket or match-related statements on social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Players have also been told to not register more than two SIMs for mobile phones in whichever country they are touring and each SIM must be registered with the touring management. Curfew timings are also likely to be enforced more strictly; three players were fined during the Pakistan-South Africa ODI series in the UAE for returning to the hotel only minutes after the curfew time.
The new code of conduct was explained to the side in a detailed, interactive session given by the board's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi before it left for the UAE. During the session it was also stressed repeatedly that players must report any previous or future approaches by potentially suspicious characters to team management immediately.
At some point in the near future, the PCB's own anti-corruption code of conduct will come into implementation and will be applicable to all domestic and international cricket. The documentation for the code, which mirrors that of the ICC, is almost ready though understandably it has to be tweaked to ensure it fits in with the law of the land. The implementation, which will cover over 2000 first-class players, will take some more time. The process of educating younger players working at the National Cricket Academy in Gaddafi Stadium on anti-corruption measures is also continuing.
Further unofficial confidence-building measures have come in the absence of Danish Kaneria and Kamran Akmal from the national side. Both players have been under corruption clouds this summer; Kaneria has been cleared by Essex police in a spot-fixing investigation in county cricket and Akmal was sent a notice by the ACSU after the World T20 in May.
The board has said only that Kaneria wasn't given clearance to tour the UAE by the new Integrity committee. Akmal, for official purposes, was unfit following an appendix operation before the South Africa series but has since been playing domestic cricket; tellingly, Zulqarnain Haider's sudden departure earlier this week resulted in a call-up not for Kamran, but his younger brother Adnan Akmal. The ICC has denied having any say in these decisions, maintaining that they are internal matters of selection.
The two teleconferences held so far between the two sides are believed to have been healthy, productive ones. Publicly, the ICC's thoughts reveal progress in Pakistan. The first meeting with the PTT on October 23 resulted in the ICC giving a cautious nod of approval to the PCB's efforts. By the second meeting, on November 7, the head of the PTT Giles Clarke and the ICC were more effusive in their praise.
The original warning, it is believed, was also prompted by the PCB's delay in recognising the original Pakistan Task Force, when it was set up in January 2009. Then, a reluctant and suspicious board had only agreed to work with the force after the terror attacks on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in March that year. The intention this time was to ensure the PCB would be on-board as soon as possible, which now appears to have succeeded. Talk of sanctions, in light of increasing cooperation between the PCB and the PTT, has thus receded.
The next teleconference is expected to be held on November 21, after which the PTT will eventually report to the ICC board on the measures Pakistan has taken, though that is not expected to happen until close to the 2011 World Cup.
