Presidential aid?

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33121, 11 January 1973, Page 1

Presidential aid?

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter) SYDNEY, January 10. The Pakistan batsmen, Saeed Ahmed and Mohammad Ilyas, have sent telegrams asking President Ali Bhutto to intervene on a tour management decision to send them home, the “Sun” reported today. The identical telegrams appealed to President Bhutto to review the circumstances of what the batsmen describe as a “one-sided affair,” the newspaper said. The two players, who were supposed to leave by air yesterday, are awaiting answers to the telegrams sent to the ■ President and the country’s Education Minister, the “Sun” reported. The manager of the team, Wing Commander M. E. Z. Ghazali, would

make no comment on the report. Both players were no longer officially members of the side, the source in the team said and they would miss the nine-game tour of New Zealand. The team will leave for New Zealand on Friday night. The tourists’ selection committee of the manager, the captain, Intikhab Alam and the vice-captain, Asif Iqbal, decided to send the players home. The reason given officially was their failure to recover from injuries. Saeed, who made 50 as opener in the first innings of the second test in Melbourne, was dropped four days later for the third test which ends tomorrow. Newspapers reported that Saeed had complained of a backstrain. Ilyas has not played since he'was struck by a bouncer just above the nose at a match early in December.