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Karachi: Pakistan pacer Shabbir Ahmad, who has been banned for 12 months owing to a suspect action, will return to Dubai again. The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to make another appeal to lift his ban and present him again before the International Cricket Council in Dubai. PCB officials will be visiting Dubai by mid-February to solve many other issues too involving their country. "Shabbir is such a good bowler that he should not be destroyed. He is tall and has all the attributes required for a good pacer. All he needs is help to correct his action. Preventing him from playing will be equivalent to destroying his career forever," remarked the PCB honcho Salim Altaf to Gulf News.
The PCB is planning to raise the Shabbir issue during the ICC Chief Executive Officers' meeting that will be held in Dubai on February 14 and 15. They have prepared a paper on the Shabbir issue and are planning to present it at the executive meeting. "Sarfraz Nawaz is continuing to work on Shabbir and is expected to correct his action. We will appeal for him again. It is not that he is deliberately chucking but it is because he has a deformity to his bowling arm," pointed out Altaf. The PCB is also hoping that ICC would accept their request for six-day Test matches. Shaharyar Khan, the Chairman of the PCB revealed that they would seek permission from the ICC to host six-day Test matches between November 15 and January 15 since bad light could affect matches during that period. "We have some excellent floodlights installed in many centres and it is a pity that it cannot be used when light fades during Test matches due to ICC's ruling," feels Khan. The PCB would also like to introduce orange balls in Test cricket. These balls are already used in the Patron's Trophy here and they feel that the batsmen are able to sight the ball better even when the light fades. It seems orange balls are more clearly visible than red and white balls under floodlights.
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