Sohail slams Pakistan Cricket Board

Former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail has accused the PCB for making an out-of-court settlement with ICC.

Sohail accused Pakistan Crciket Board chairman Ejaz Butt of mishandling the dispute over the 2011 World Cup hosting rights.

"We haven't gained anything special"

"I don't think we have gained anything special in terms of money or prestige in the out-of-court settlement with the ICC," said Sohail, who recently resigned as the director of National Cricket Academy.

"The match hosting fees, profit shares and participation fees are money, which ICC has to pay anyway. So at the end of the day what we have really got just a meager amount against the gate money and hospitality boxes sales for our share of 14 matches," Sohail said.

"If we had pushed and pressurised the ICC by going ahead with our legal action we would have got more from the ICC against the real earning avenues for our share of 14 matches that are now being hosted by other three hosts of the World Cup," Sohail said.

The former opener, who has not spoken to the media since resigning on July 21, feels that Butt did another mistake by pushing Abu Dhabi and Dubai as possible neutral venues for the World Cup matches without even signing any deal with them.

"I think, it would have been appropriate to launch a full scale diplomatic and cricket offensive to convince the ICC to give us more time to put into place a security mechanism for the World Cup acceptable to all teams. After all the security situation in the major cities is already rapidly improving in Pakistan," Sohail said.

Sohail said by floating the idea of neutral venues, PCB chief basically gave out the message to ICC and other so-hosts that security would not improve in Pakistan before the World Cup in 2011.

"If one lawyer was saying Pakistan didn't have a strong case in processing its legal action then we should have consulted other legal experts," Sohail said.

"But I don't think even the ICC and other host countries of the World Cup would have liked the prospect of a legal conflict hanging over the preparations for the World Cup and we should have thought about that," he added