PCB defends e-mail to team manager

Although embarrassed after his stinging e-mail castigating the Pakistan team appeared in newspapers, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Nasim Ashraf defended shooting off the strongly-worded letter, saying it was his duty to point out the ills that plague the side.

Insisting that the mail was not meant to demoralise the team after the pounding they received against India, Ashraf said, "As the board Chairman, it is my job to point out some glaring mistakes that were obvious in the match and the mail was meant to lift up the spirits of the players."

Before leaving for Bangladesh to watch the final of the tri-series, Ashraf said team manager Talat Ali had responded by assuring him that the team management was taking corrective measures to ensure the team played well tomorrow.

Talat himself defended the mail from the board Chairman in Dhaka saying it was nothing unusual and the head of the PCB normally exchanged mails and views with him and this was his right.

"As President of the board he has every right to guide us," Talat said.

Ashraf reached Dhaka this afternoon and immediately went into a meeting with captain Shoaib Malik and Talat although it was not confirmed if coach Geoff Lawson was also attending the meeting.

The chairman's mail was leaked out in the media on Thursday and former Test player Saleem Altaf was removed from the Board on charges of leaking it to the media.