KARACHI, (Reuters) – The Pakistan Cricket Board has conveyed its concern to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the omission of off-break bowler Saeed Ajmal from the shortlist of nominees for the annual ICC awards.
Having been named in the ICC’s test team of the year, Ajmal missed the shortlist of nominees for the international, test and one-day international player of the year awards.
The PCB said its concern was related to the test award.
“We have conveyed our concern to the ICC on the Ajmal issue and we hope they will reconsider his name for the final list of awards,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said.
Ajmal, 34, was the leading wicket-taker in tests in the 12-month award period, taking 74 wickets, and was also highly placed in the one-day international rankings.
He was reported in 2009 for having a suspect bowling action but cleared by the ICC.
Sources on the Pakistan board said the PCB had sent a letter to the ICC indicating surprise Ajmal had missed out on the nominations.
“We have conveyed to the ICC that we believe that there must have been an oversight on part of the experts and a review is urgently required as Ajmal has been outstanding in all three formats of the game,” the source said.
Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander (South Africa), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) and Michael Clarke (Australia) were nominated for the test award.
Ajmal told a Pakistani television channel in Abu Dhabi during the ODI series against Australia that he was not dejected by his omission from the list of nominees and was privileged to be part of the ICC test team of the year.
The awards will be announced before the start of the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka on Sept. 15.
