Ijaz Butt named new Pakistsn Cricket Board chief

Karachi, Oct 7 (IANS) Former Pakistan Test cricketer Ijaz Butt has been appointed new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), sources in the sports ministry said Tuesday.

President Asif Ali Zardari - PCB's chief patron - has chosen Butt as the new PCB chief, ending weeks of suspense that gripped Pakistan cricket since the resignation of former board chairman Nasim Ashraf in August, sources told IANS.

Ashraf stepped down as the PCB chief just hours after General Pervez Musharraf resigned as Pakistan's president.

Butt, 70, played eight Tests for Pakistan and has since then occupied several key positions in the national cricket set-up. He served as the secretary of the PCB then known as the Board for Control of Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP). He also served as the manager of the Pakistan team. More recently, he was one of the members of the PCB Governing Board.

He was always the front-runner to take over as the PCB chief as he has the backing of Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, who is Butt's close relative.

Butt is regarded as a hard task-master and is expected to carry out drastic changes in the Pakistan cricket set-up after taking over as the PCB chairman later this week.