Re: exchange of hot words between woolmer and ilyaas:jang
there are always two sides of the picture, if this is true then bobby boy needs to apologise
Ilyas claims Woolmer was rude to him first
*By our correspondent
*KARACHI: Former Test player Mohammad Ilyas, who has become the subject of an inquiry by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for his misbehaviour with Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, claims his actions were in reaction to rude behaviour by Woolmer.
"Although the Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan is convinced that Ilyas was at fault and needs to be disciplined, Ilyas now claims he only got into an altercation with the Pakistan coach after he treated him unfairly during the Twenty20 charity match in Lahore last Sunday," a source in the Board said.
"Ilyas has claimed that on the day of the match he went to sit down on a chair near the boundary line but Woolmer told him to vacate the seat as the chairs were only meant to be used by the players," the source said.
"At this Ilyas says he pointed out to Woolmer that if he was so particular about the sanctity of the players seating area, then what were two Tableeghi Jamaat people doing sitting in the Pakistan dressing room at the same time," the source disclosed.
"Ilyas says that when he pointed out this to Woolmer he got into an argument which led to the altercation between them," the source added.
In recent months, the influence of the Tableeghi Jamaat preachers has grown considerably in the Pakistan cricket team with a number of players now taking seriously to religion and joining Tableeghi Jamaats on their preaching tours.
"That is at least the version given by Ilyas about the incident," said the source but added that the Board had also got eye-witness accounts of the entire episode from other independent sources.
The source said that Shaharyar Khan had asked Director Cricket Operations Saleem Altaf to conduct the inquiry into the incident, which occurred in front of other people.
"Apparently Altaf told the Chairman he would conduct the inquiry and only give a decision after getting both versions of the incident and not just rely on the complaint made by Woolmer to the Board about Ilyas’s behaviour," the source added.
"Altaf told the Chairman that the Board shouldn’t give a one-sided judgement based on Woolmer’s statement and both sides must be heard out before a judgement is given."
However, other sources confirmed that even Altaf agreed that Ilyas’s behaviour had not been very good and his involvement in Pakistan cricket affairs was not producing any positive impression.
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