Shoaib Akhtar's career would have ended in 2000-01 if Dalmiya had not helped: former PCB chief
Karachi: A former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed that had it not been for the help extended by the late ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, fast bowler Shoiab Akhtar's career would have ended in 2000-01.
In 1999, the International Cricket Council had told the PCB that speed merchant Akhtar's bowling action was under scrutiny.
Former BCCI chief Damiya, one of India's biggest cricket administrators, served as the ICC's president from 1997 to 2000.
"Jagmohan, who had been president of the ICC and was an influential voice, supported us a lot in the Shoaib Akhtar bowling action case. He took a stand for us despite the ICC members insisting that Akhtar's bowling action was illegal," Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia, who headed the PCB from 1999 to 2003, said.
"But due to the stance taken by Dalmiya and myself the ICC eventually conceded that Akhtar had a medical flaw in his bowling arm since birth which gave him hyper elbow extension and he was allowed to play on," he added.
Zia also said that some players might have under-performed in the 2003 World Cup because of factionalism within the team at that time.
He said on the GTV News Channel that he had asked then chief selector Wasim Bari to drop stalwarts like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar from the team after the World Cup.
Pakistan failed to qualify for the super six stage of the World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
"After the World Cup I was very disappointed with the way the players had performed because it was the best possible side we could have picked for the World Cup," Zia said.
"I was hearing about these groupings and differences within the team even before the tournament and I suspected some of them under-performed because of their conflicts," he said.
Waqar captained Pakistan in that World Cup and throughout the event, there were reports about him not getting support from some players.
"I had wanted to make Wasim captain for the World Cup but many people in the board opposed this and even the ICC had its reservations because of the fixing inquiry reports," he said.
The former chairman said that after the World Cup he sat down with Bari.
"I told him now is the time to free Pakistan cricket of Wasim, Waqar, Saeed and some others. We then made Rashid Latif the captain and asked him to build a new team."
Zia pointed out that they had also dropped senior players such as Shoaib Akhtar and Inzamam-ul-Haq from the team so that a new outfit could be built.
"I thought Rashid did a good job and for a while it appeared we were rebuilding the team, but circumstances led to other things."
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
