Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik filed an appeal Wednesday after being suspended for one year and fined by the Pakistan Cricket Board for ill discipline. PCB legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi said Malik filed an appeal through his lawyer. Malik was banned and fined two million rupees ($23,500) as one of seven players punished by the PCB for ill discipline, ball tampering or poor performance during Pakistan's tour of Australia earlier this year. The others are Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Rana Naved, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Only Yousuf is yet to file an appeal and he has until April 16. The PCB has formed a three-member tribunal comprising retired supreme court judges Munir Sheikh and Jamshed Ali Shah and former high court judge Irfan Qadir to hear the appeals. ICC pledges support for Pakistan Cricket's world governing body pledged support for Pakistan Wednesday and expressed hope that the isolated country will play as much international cricket as possible, even at neutral venues. Haroon Lorgat, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), is to visit Karachi Thursday to unveil the World Twenty20 trophy and support Pakistan, left without international cricket at home due to security problems. “It's a great pleasure to be heading back to Pakistan. We are always assured of a warm welcome there,” Lorgat said in a statement. His will be the first visit by a top ICC official to Pakistan since Islamist militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3, 2009. The attacks in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore killed eight people and wounded seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach. It severed any chance of Pakistan hosting international cricket in the near future. The ICC was forced to strip Pakistan of its share of 14 matches in the World Cup 2011, leaving a big question mark over the country's future as an international sporting venue. – Agencies Pakistan was left to play its home series in the United Arab Emirates and will also play two Tests and two Twenty20 games against Australia in England later this year.
