Thursday, October 5 2006 15:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Karachi: England and Wales Cricket Board has demanded compensation of over half a million dollars from the Pakistan cricket board for the cancellation of the Oval Test.

ECB has sent an official letter through the ICC demanding compensation of the forfeited Test but the PCB ad-hoc committee, which met in Lahore today, has decided to contest the claim, according to a PCB official.

Pakistan had refused to take the field on the fourth day of the Test match against England after they were penalized five runs for ball tampering by umpire Darell Hair. The Test was eventually awarded to the home team.

"The Ad-Hoc committee has given the green signal to the Chairman to contest the compensation claim through a proper legal team," he said.

He indicated that the same team of lawyers which represented Pakistan board and Inzamam at the ICC hearing might be hired to contest the ECB claim.

The Oval Test could not be held after tea on the fourth day and the ECB says it lost a lot of revenues including gate money, television sponsorship and ground advertising as the match was not completed.

The committee also discussed the humiliating series loss of the Pakistan youth team to the Indian under-19 team at home recently and called for an investigation into the selection process and performance of the team management.

The Ad-Hoc committee was also told that the Government had approved to give a terrestrial channel to the PCB to launch its own sports channel.

"The committee has called for a feasibility report to be carried out so that a final decision can be taken on whether to go for the channel or not," the official stated.