Rashid Latif criticizes PCB after Lord’s defeat: ‘Worst board in 70 years’

Pakistan’s tour of England has lurched from worrying to downright alarming, and at Lord’s on Sunday it crashed into full-blown crisis.

A 194-run defeat in the second Test handed England the series 2-0 with a match to spare and left Pakistan still searching for their first total of 200 on this tour. The scoreboard told one story. Rashid Latif told another – and his was even more brutal.

The former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter launched a fierce attack on the Pakistan Cricket Board, the selection committee and the coaching staff, accusing them of presiding over one of the darkest eras in the country’s cricketing history.

“Everyone is talking about the Pakistan team, and how it is the worst touring team in the last 50 years. But nobody is speaking about how the current board is the worst in the last 70 years. Nobody is talking about the worst selection committee and coaches,” Latif said on Geo News, his words cutting through the post-match analysis like a bouncer.

“If you combine these issues, you will get the answer to your question. You will know who has ruined this team. Now you are losing consistently. This is the worst cricket board, that’s a fact.”

A batting line-up on its knees

Latif’s fury has a clear statistical backdrop. Across four innings in this series, Pakistan have not once reached 200. In modern Test cricket, that is a damning indictment.

The top order has looked brittle, the middle order confused, the lower order exposed far too early. Each collapse has felt more inevitable than the last.

Babar Azam’s absence from the opening Test was framed as a cruel blow. His return at Lord’s was supposed to steady the ship, restore some order, perhaps even ignite a fightback. Instead, it underlined just how deep the problems run.

Eight in the first innings. Six in the second. For Pakistan’s premier batter, these are not just low scores; they are symbolic failures at a time when his team needed him to stand tall.

His second-innings dismissal captured the mood. Jofra Archer, sensing vulnerability, dug one in short. Babar misjudged, failed to ride the bounce, and departed again. England roared. Pakistan sagged. Any hope of resistance evaporated with him.

This is not simply a player out of form. It is a captain-in-waiting trapped in a malfunctioning system, and Latif made it clear he believes that system – not just the players – is to blame.

Off-field storm at Lord’s

If the cricket was messy, the backdrop was even more combustible.

The Lord’s Test unfolded under the shadow of a political and emotional flashpoint: an 18-minute Sky Sports interview with the sons of Imran Khan, Pakistan’s World Cup-winning captain and former prime minister, focusing on his imprisonment.

Reports quickly surfaced that the PCB had threatened to pull Pakistan out of the match in protest at the broadcast. The prospect of a walkout at the game’s most historic venue sent ripples through the sport.

Babar Azam and head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed moved to cool the speculation, publicly denying that Pakistan had considered abandoning the Test. The game went ahead, the controversy simmered, and the team’s cricket disintegrated instead.

For Latif, though, the off-field noise only sharpened his central point: the administration, the selectors, the coaches – all, in his view, have failed the players.

“This is the worst cricket board, that’s a fact,” he insisted, refusing to let the debate rest solely on dropped catches and loose drives.

A tour on the brink

The numbers are stark. England lead the three-match series 2-0. Pakistan have not crossed 200 in any innings. Their batting has crumbled under sustained pressure, their confidence has drained session by session.

What began as a challenging tour has turned into an inquest.

Now comes Edgbaston. The third and final Test in Birmingham starts on September 9, with the series already gone and only pride left to salvage. The threat of a 3-0 whitewash hangs over Babar’s side.

They must somehow regroup, reset, and find a way to compete against an England team that has dominated every key moment so far.

Latif has made his judgment on who carries the greatest responsibility for this slide. The question now is whether those in charge – and those in the dressing room – can produce any kind of answer before this tour writes itself into Pakistan’s history for all the wrong reasons.