History advises us that when Institutions truly desire to 'turn the page' or make a new start, it is essential to bare the cupboard of its past skeletons. Financial Institutions or Corporate Bodies affect this by carrying out an Audit not only annually but also when a change of command takes place. The object is not to carry out a witch hunt; rather it is to ensure a starting point for the new incumbent and to ensure that highlighting past mistakes, if any, prevents them from being repeated. This does not imply that criminal acts, if any, of mismanagement should just be pushed under the table. Doing so makes one an accomplice and hence subject to the same penalties.

The PCB it appears either does not believe in this practice or carries out this exercise in secret which is improper for a public institution. This article will make an attempt to air the PCB's cupboards of some of these skeletons. There is no intent to malign any individual. All that is being written is obviously information in the public domain. It is not necessarily backed with documentary evidence with the writer, however I feel that there is sufficient knowledge of these 'bones' in public to warrant writing about them in the hope that just may be we can put these ghosts to rest and start anew.

Over the last ten to twelve years the PCB has not been a democratic body and thus action taken by successive ad-hoc managements must be declared autocratic. When we went from one boss to the next there was no attempt to reply to the criticisms or make any attempt to justify the actions taken. The first case that comes to mind is the totally unjustified manner in which 108 acres of prime land, allotted in writing by a President of Pakistan (and CMLA), adjacent to the National Stadium was given away to provide land for a housing scheme. The area had been demarcated, the dues paid and the area walled by the PCB. The problem began when this land was arbitrarily taken away by a Chief Minister of Sindh to create and allot 44 plots. A dedicated management took up this matter and by appealing to the then President of Pakistan and with his ruling continued the legal process to retrieve the property from the allot tees. Having recovered possession of the property there remained some difficulty with other government departments which was being cleared up through the courts of law. The PCB's legal experts were routinely pursuing the case which was an open and shut one and hence should not have been a problem. Lo and behold the PCB management changed and the incoming individual decided that there was no need to pursue the legal recovery of what was undeniably very valuable PCB property. From my memory the on going legal costs was the lame excuse used to gift away this vast asset and an ex parte decision accepted. Since there was no check or balance at this time and whilst there was and continues to be much heart burning amongst the cricket circles in Karachi this skeleton worth many millions of Rupees rankles away in the cupboards of the PCB without a by your leave. The visible evidence of this sad story is yet another housing colony in the place of a sporting area. The saga continues even today through a mysterious construction which is currently being executed behind the offices of the Pakistan Sports Board.

The next case that comes to mind is the award of the television rights to a Company that did not even have the ability to provide a set of annual accounts. The award was made by changing the rules required by the Bid Documents and not giving the competition even the chance of providing a bid under the new conditions. As this matter has been described in detail in the Press suffices it to say it lost the PCB the opportunity of earning some USD 150 million over a 5 year period. Even today as on occasions in the past the 'power' of television has governed the decision of playing in 'neutral' suitable countries. It is my personal opinion of which I have written before today, that playing in neutral venues down grades the national image of Pakistan.

The World Cup held jointly with India in 1996 gave rise to yet another skeleton that is just recently being unearthed. Due to income tax problems some of the earnings of the Championship could not be distributed. The ostensible reason provided by the BCCI was that there could be a call upon some of the profits for tax purposes and thus money had to be retained by them. Why we accepted such a strange decision is another story. The many millions of dollars were thus put into a London bank in a fixed deposit account for later distribution. It remains a matter of great surprise that no management since 1996 could get the PCB its due share in spite of the fact that arbitration between Doordarshan and the BCCI, the root of the problem, had been concluded. It would appear that a medical expert in shining armor finally came to the rescue. It is doing the rounds that for reasons that are still not clear a compromise was made with the BCCI. The PCB proposed to accept just 30 percent of the original amount as its share. If this was not inexplicable enough, it is being reported that the Chairman of the PCB of the time also agreed to forego the total interest on the amount for some 15 years. As the connotations of such an action are too dire it is impossible for me to accept that any official of a public body would of his own bat take such a decision. It therefore behooves the PCB to put this ghost to rest by making a public statement cleanly describing the facts and stop the rattling of these bones in its cupboard.

One of the major skeletons that creaks away less noisily but has contributed to illegally turning the PCB into an autocracy is the fact that the PCB with the approval of its General Body was legally converted into a Private Limited Corporate Company and was duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Documentary evidence of this does exist. The Constitution was converted into the Articles of Association and in effect the General Body (Representing the Cricket Associations of Pakistan) became the share holders of this Company. In due course of time as is normal the Tax Authorities required the PCB to file its Tax Returns. Rather than fight the battle with the bureaucracy and arrange a tax exemption the management of the time chose to arrange the cancellation of its registration with the SECP. As is known to the corporate world this is not lawful unless carried out with the written consent of the owners of the Company. That this was never done is a matter of record and once again civilian law was flouted. The legal owners i.e. The Cricket Associations of the Country were deprived of their assets. Even more importantly it allowed an important document defining the Constitution/ Articles of Association to be held in abeyance while all and sundry practiced their hand at creating an autocratic document that could also be described as democratic.

The last but by no means least important doubtful legacy the PCB is burdened with is individuals that have been on the pay role for some 15 years or more. Their ability to massage the egos of every succeeding boss has kept them involved with important jobs. There are times when one wonders if we are a Country of 160 million, since the same faces keep cropping up with every succeeding management.

Our country has recently gone through a phenomenal change and we are to be blessed with an impartial judiciary. Whilst one realizes that there might be weightier matters to command the attention of 'My Lords', I would suggest that no single matter can be less controversial and binds our people together more than the love of cricket. Thus if official notice is taken of what has been written and subject to it being found accurate corrective action is ordered it would truly cleanse the PCB's cupboards and provide its management a running start in the creation of a world class team.

Finally I am overcome with the desire to say 'I said so'. In last weeks article one had forecast that the security issue would soon affect the BCCI. Notwithstanding their feeble attempt to seek short term mileage by offering to move the Pakistan Leg of the next World Cup to India. It has happened sooner than rather than later. Let me add that the BCCI is only moving a purely commercial event out of the Country. Even this is being remarked upon and criticized. It is not moving a 'home series' to a foreign country. It is interesting to note that the commercial venues closer to India and thus more 'time friendly' for television transmission are not being considered. Rather they are choosing other venues from amongst the full member countries of the ICC. One wonders why!

Kevin Pietersen has divided opinion from the moment he jacked in his lot with South Africa and made his great trek north in the summer of 2000 to launch his new life as a global sporting phenomenon. But right at this moment his staggering self-belief is flagging like never before. It's not so much the runs that are the issue, but the love. He's feeling unappreciated, and his discontent is corrosive.

Barely a day has gone by this week without Pietersen hitting the headlines for what he's said, or what he's done, or what he's said and done. One minute he's threatening to "do a Robinho" and flee an unhappy tour (a line that sounds sensational only when taken out of its original context), the next he's leaving the field with back spasms while bowling against a man he accused of hypochondria, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. It's a state of affairs that lends weight to the impression of a team in disarray. Pietersen is England's kingpin, and right now he's feeling skittled.

Some people will never understand what makes Pietersen tick, and his non-English origins are always on hand to provide his critics with ammunition, as the man himself admitted in the latest of a string of soul-baring interviews this week. "I think I'm going to have to live with that my whole career," he said. "I lived with that on Friday when we played a poor game of cricket and I got comments about South Africa. I deal with that on a daily basis and that's just the way it is, unfortunately."

And yet, less than 12 months have elapsed since Pietersen leant back on the sofa at the MCC museum and declared to the waiting press that he had "never felt so loved" by the English public, having just marked his first Test against his former countrymen with his 14th century. It was a telling choice of phrase from a man who, for all his awkwardness, seeks acceptance every bit as much as fame and fortune. Before that series was out, Pietersen had been named England captain, which he marked with a further century in a victorious maiden Test in charge, closely followed by four straight victories in a one-day campaign of greater intensity than England had shown for a decade.

The Peter Moores debacle brought a disastrous halt to that momentum, but to question Pietersen's commitment to England is both harsh and pass_. He has never missed a single Test match since making his England debut in 2005. He's played in every single one of England's 15 Twenty20 internationals as well, and his last break from the ODI circuit came ahead of the World Cup in 2007, when he suffered a cracked rib while facing up to Glenn McGrath in Melbourne. His subsequent absence from England's next nine matches of the CB Series is the longest time away from the limelight he has had in four-and-a-half years as an international superstar.

Aside from Paul Collingwood, no one else in the squad comes close to matching that attendance record. Andrew Flintoff has played just 28 Tests in the same period, while the current captain, Andrew Strauss, was dropped for the tour of Sri Lanka in 2007-08, and had not played ODI cricket for two years until the start of the current campaign. Those who question Pietersen's commitment to England emphatically miss the point. He's scored nearly 8000 runs in eight countries including 23 centuries since his switch of allegiance, averaging 51 and 46 respectively in Tests and ODIs. He owes his adopted country nothing.

His country, on the other hand, owes him plenty. The cack-handed manner in which Pietersen was stripped of the England captaincy would irk even men with lesser tendencies towards ego-mania. One minute he was being asked how, in his valued opinion, the England team could be improved; the next he had offered his (admittedly drastic) solution, and found himself being drop-kicked out of office after his confidential comments had been leaked to the media.

After that episode, some feared Pietersen would flounce around the Caribbean like the spoiled brat he is perceived to be, or even decline to tour, and secure a full-fat contract with the IPL instead, but not a bit of it. He got straight back into training, scored a century in England's first warm-up game, in St Kitts, and but for an ill-judged stroke at Sabina Park that detracted from the determination that had preceded it, would have added a hundred in his first Test back in the ranks. Even when he did reach three figures in a superb final-morning onslaught in Trinidad, the fact that England fell one wicket short of squaring the series was used as further spurious proof that he's not a team player. It was Strauss who declined to declare before lunch that day, not the man in the middle.

There's no question that Pietersen is feeling the burn of touring life like never before. To a man, his England team-mates have spoken of his unstinting professionalism in the past 11 weeks, but the humiliation of his return to the ranks has melded with an England performance that has plumbed some spectacular depths. One of the benefits of Pietersen's promotion to the captaincy was that it provided an outlet for his excessive energies. Now, instead of being driven by responsibility to ever greater heights, he's being tipped by frustration ever closer to the edge.

Burn-out is a phrase that is used sparingly in Pietersen's presence, because as he himself recognised during the Oval Test last summer, he's got a finite window of opportunity as an elite athlete, and as a man in a rush to succeed, he is determined not to pass up a single opportunity - including the small matter of the IPL in a fortnight's time. His sojourn in South Africa is yet another reason why sympathy for his plight will be in short supply.

And yet, it should not be ignored how devastating the pressures can be on the key men in England's set-up. In recent years Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick both succumbed to the pressures of being on duty 12 months a year. The common denominator is that they, like Pietersen, were undroppable in all forms of the game, and therefore did not get a break until the day they snapped.

Pietersen has said that never again will he go 11 weeks without seeing his wife, Jessica, and while it is easy to be cynical about celebrity love stories, it's not impossible that he really does miss her. The fact that Pietersen wanted to fly home to watch her take part in the finals of Dancing on Ice is the sort of cloying detail that we really could have done without, but as he once said, he is fortunate to have a wife who has been in the celebrity spotlight longer than he has, and therefore understands the pressures like no one else.

Pressure has been the life-blood of Pietersen's career, from his sensational first tour to South Africa in 2004-05, right through to the tour-salvaging performance he is surely plotting in St Lucia right now. Even when he endured a rare trough in Sri Lanka and New Zealand last winter, he still fronted up with the performance that won the series, a century in Napier last March, after his colleagues had stumbled to 4 for 3. But you have to wonder what his wife's advice will be when he does finally get home. It's been a draining year already, but the contests that matter are still to come.

The writer is UK editor of Cricinfo

A1GP which is known as the World Cup of motor sports was initiated by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, an exciting yet accessible sport where all countries would compete on a level playing field. From this spark, grew A1GP, a series with deliberately equalised technology and national teams, racing their country flag in the A1GP World Cup of Motor sport.

Initially the buzz around the tournament predicted it to be a success as more than twenty nations opted to feature their teams in the event. Pakistan was also amongst the nations who entered their team in the inaugural race which pits nations against nations in this unique race.

The launch of A1 Team Pakistan was one of the most spectacular, with the A1 Grand Prix Car being presented in front of the Lahore Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf was the star guest at the event, hosted by A1 Team Pakistan Chairman Arif Hussain and its Managing Director, Chaudry Salik Hussain. The team was to be run by Super Nova Racing.

Nur Ali was the first driver to be named in A1GP and had shown good form during pre-season testing, but was replaced with British-born Adam Khan.

Enrico Toccacelo drove in South Africa for Team Pakistan in the season one of the A1GP -- Adam Khan crashed and was not fit to race -- as the team had already spent much time preparing for the race, also the management wished to not disappoint the Pakistani fans.

In spite of being a country event the only link in team Pakistan and Pakistan is that of the driver Adam Khan who is British with Pakistani roots and that is about it when it comes to Pakistani connection. No wonder that the A1 team Pakistan or even the A1GP itself has failed to build local following, not even the people who follow Formula One in our country have opted to shift their loyalties to the so-called World Cup of motor sports.

May be one of the reason of A1GP failing to attract audiences or a following in Pakistan is that no proper marketing of the sport is done and no effort has been made by the team to connect with the people as the people who ran the team Super Nova Racing, Performance Racing or the current Team Craft have shifted their focus on the financial gains of the sport and are completely ignoring the fans who were all behind Team Pakistan in the inaugural race.

After a dismal performance of the team in the first season -- as compared to the other teams -- in which they only managed to secure ten points. This was also the season which can be considered best for team Pakistan as they were placed fifth in the feature race in China and seventh in the sprint race in Great Britain. Pakistan was 20th in the standings at the end of the season.

At the start of the second season Adam Khan left the team to continue his education and was replaced by Nur Ali, recalled to race for team Pakistan. Performance Racing took over the running of the team from Super Nova racing. But all these changes were of no use as Nur struggled behind the wheel and could only manage to capture a single point when he finished 10th in South Africa in the feature race, finishing 22nd in the overall standings.

Adam Khan on return was allowed to choose the team that he would like to carry off the technical work in the pits but in spite of all these efforts the fortunes of the teams were not changed. The team lacked the technical back up that other teams on the grid had, and were unable to do the basics -- analysing the lap data. But Khan was able to capture one point for the team in the third season when he finished 10th in the sprint race in New Zealand. Pakistan managed to capture 20th position in the overall standings.

The fourth season of the A1GP is currently on and Pakistan is yet to pit its car in any race. Adam Khan now holds the dual-role of the seat holder and the race driver of the A1 team Pakistan replacing Arif Hussain.

The team has successfully practiced in South Africa and is all set to feature in Algarve, Portugal on 12th April 2009. The delay was due to the fact that Ferrari built chassis introduced and made compulsory for all teams by A1GP administration was too small for Adam Khan.

After burning rubber in 1281 laps and racing 5412 km all together in the Team Pakistan has very little too show. The fact that the marketing department of the team has failed to create a following of the sport and no significant event has been organised within Pakistan to promote the team, most people are not even aware of the fact that Pakistan has a team in A1 GP let alone know the name of the driver representing Pakistan.

Its time to cross our fingers again as Team Pakistan is about to reenter the World Cup, hopefully this time they will do something which can make headlines and Adam Khan can become a household name just like our beloved cricketers.

The writer is a staffer at The News