Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas is likely to be replaced as team manager for the ICC Champions Trophy in India next month following his "failure" to play a stronger role in the Oval Test fiasco.
Zaheer is in line for the axe when the PCB ad-hoc committee meets on September 12 in Karachi to discuss the Oval Test controversy and the role of the team management in the whole affair, a source in the Pakistan Cricket Board said.
"The ICC has given September 14 as the deadline for submitting the team officials for the Champions Trophy and given the output from England it is unlikely Zaheer will be retained as manager," the source said.
The former batsman is manager since early this year and was also chief selector and ICC match referee in the past.
An indication that Zaheer is going to be sacked has also come with a decision of the Board to nominate coach Bob Woolmer and their manager of cricket operations, Asad Mustafa, to attend the ICC briefing for team officials of participating countries in next year's World Cup.
The briefing is due to be held later this month in the West Indies and Mustafa, who is in London with the team as assistant manager, will fly to the West Indies with Woolmer.
Sources said there was a divided opinion in the Board over the decision to nominate Mustafa for the briefing, which was apparently authorised by chairman Shaharyar Khan.
Cracks and differences within the board have also emerged on other issues with sources saying the chairman and director of Cricket Operations Saleem Altaf were not operating on the same wavelength.
"The word is that Altaf, who was appointed directly on a three-year contract by the Board patron, President Pervez Musharraf, is going to ask for a meeting with him to brief him on what he sees as the wrongs in the PCB," the source said.
The patron makes appointments to the top positions in the Board which is functioning on an ad-hoc basis under a Presidential order since 1999 when the elected set-up and council was disbanded.
Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has been among critics who say the Board must be run on democratic lines with elected representatives.
But it is unlikely that Musharraf will go for any major changes in the Board at this stage with the World Cup just round the corner.
It is no secret that Altaf also does not got along with Woolmer and feels the chairman has designated too many powers to captain Inzamam-ul Haq.
Altaf, a former Test player, has been trying since last year to get a paid national selection committee appointed in place of the honorary one that functions currently under the chairmanship of Wasim Bari.
But Shaharyar has resisted the pressure at all previous ad-hoc committee meetings. Altaf believes it is important to have full-time paid selectors instead of people working on honorary basis and unable to give proper time to their task.
"The one thing going in favour of Shaharyar is that the team has been performing well and looks to have the grit and talent to do well in the World Cup," one expert said.
