Talat Ali quit as team manager for Pakistan on Friday, just before the national Cricket Board appointed an interim selection committee. “I have no regrets as I wanted to make way for the new chairman to bring in his own team,” 58-year-old Ali told The Associated Press. Yawar Saeed, who has previously served on the Pakistan Cricket Board's advisory council, will replace Ali as manager of the national team, the PCB said in a statement. Ali had been the team manager since the 2006 Champions Trophy in India and his contract with the PCB was to run until next April. Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan and also patron-in-chief of the national cricket board, appointed former Test wicketkeeper Ijaz Butt as the new chairman of the PCB earlier this month. Massive administrative changes have been widely anticipated since Butt's appointment. He replaced Nasim Ashraf, who quit on Aug. 18, hours after Pervez Musharraf resigned as Pakistan president. “I haven't spoken to Mr. Butt, but I feel it's the right time to leave the job and make way for some other person,” Ali said. “I have sent my resignation to the cricket board's office in Lahore.” Ali played 10 Test matches for Pakistan before retiring in 1979. He has also served as an International Cricket Council match referee. Butt appointed former Test fast bowler Salim Jaffar as the interim chief selector with ex-Test batsmen Ijaz Ahmed and Shoaib Mohammad as the members of selection committee. Jaffar was the only survivor from the previous three-member selection committee. Former chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed resigned over a selection row earlier this month while another member, Shafqat Rana, quit Friday. Akhtar hearing Oct. 24 A Lahore court on Friday postponed a hearing into Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's pending fine for one week. “The judge was not available today and the new date is set for Oct. 24,” Pakistan Cricket Board lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi told The Associated Press from the eastern city of Lahore. The PCB is seeking a ruling from the Lahore High Court on whether Akhtar is eligible to play in, or for, Pakistan without paying an outstanding 7 million rupees ($84,000) fine. – AP __
