PCB to take up Warne's 'prediction' with ICC

LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt said that the PCB would take up the matter with the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the prediction of Shane Warne before the India-England World Cup match. Talking to the media men in a function held here at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) on Tuesday, the PCB chief said that how a person could forecast such a perfect results before the match. "We will raise the matter and ask the ICC to conduct a fair inquiry into the matter," he added. He said the PCB would renew or issue the central contracts to 19 players on Thursday and remaining players would get the contract in coming June. "Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria's names were not included in the list but they will be awarded central contracts within a couple of days," he added. He stated that the matter of former skipper Shoaib Malik will be decided by the Integrity Committee while for Danish, he suggested that he should go to courts for his clearance. He further said that Pakistan team played well in the two matches of the World Cup 2011. "Our players are in good form and showing their performances in the field. However, the fielding of our team against the Sri Lanka match at Colombo disappointed me as it was not satisfactory," Butt said and added: "Now we have only one tough match which is against Australia and if Pakistan manage to win it then it will top its Group-A and will compete the lowest team of Group-B in the quarterfinal," he said. When he was asked about the performance of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, Ijaz Butt agreed that the performance of Kamran Akmal was not up to the mark behind the stamps.

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