Pakistan Cricket Board revenues have fallen sharply after it was forced to stop hosting international matches due to ongoing security concerns, a PCB official said Monday. PCB chief Ijaz Butt said that its annual revenues fell by 71 percent. Last year, the International Cricket Council moved the Champions Trophy from Pakistan to South Africa and India refused to tour Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks. Butt said the PCB lost $40 million in revenues from the loss of the India series alone. No team is likely to tour Pakistan in the near future after gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team bus in Lahore in March, wounding several players and killing six policemen and a driver. The attack led the ICC to strip Pakistan of its role as one of the four co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup. The World Cup will now be jointly organized by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with Pakistan playing all its group matches in Sri Lanka. The PCB also switched its matches against Australia and New Zealand to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The ICC set up a five-member task force in June, led by ICC director and England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke, to help the PCB retain its position in international cricket. Butt met the task force in Dubai last week and said he hoped that Pakistan will not be isolated. "The task force members were informed of the measures taken by the PCB to combat the challenges thrown up by the current (security) situation," Butt said. "The (PCB) team recommended some measures to make up for the loss of revenue suffered by the PCB." Pakistan was already planning to play test matches against Australia in England next year and Butt said he hoped that the PCB would get its share of international matches when the ICC announces its Future Tours Program (FTP) next year. "The option of playing at neutral venues is there for us, so I think we will be given due space in the FTP," Butt said. The task force includes the ICC General Manager of Cricket, David Richardson, former international captains Mike Brearley of England and Ramiz Raja of Pakistan, and Ranjan Madugalle from the elite panel of ICC match referees. "The objective of the meeting was to come up with possible solutions in consultation with the PCB to ensure that the cricketing talent remains attached and attracted to the sport despite the PCB's inability to host international cricket at home in the near future," Clarke said in a media release. "The PCB made an impressive and strong presentation in which it sought ICC's assistance in retaining its position as a competitive team in world cricket and a self-sustaining and revenue generating organization." The task force team will submit its report during the next ICC Board meeting scheduled for February 2010.
