Days after reports emerged that eight Pakistani players were fined for breaching curfew, the PCB has categorically refuted reports claiming fielding coach Grant Luden quit his post after a row with senior players Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal.

"The news is absolutely false and that nothing of the sort has happened," the PCB said in a statement released on Wednesday night.

That's not entirely right. Luden did inform the PCB chairman and chief executive several days before the World Cup of his intentions to leave in May 2015 due to "personal reasons", but retracted his resignation after those issues were resolved.

It has not been a smooth start to the tournament for Pakistan. Afridi and Shehzad were among eight players fined $300 for returning to their Sydney hotel late before the tournament, a report last week claimed. The PCB has also issued a social media ban on the squad throughout the tournament.

Pressure is building on Pakistan after their heavy loss to India on Sunday. Former legend Javed Miandad has already lashed the team and now another hero from the successful 1992 campaign, Wasim Akram, is at odds with the team. Akram, one of the greatest bowlers the game has seen, is disappointed the PCB has not sought his services.

"I am in Australia and New Zealand, and I am ready to do my bit to help out the Pakistan team in their World Cup campaign," Akram, who is working as a commentator during the tournament, said on Pakistan TV. "I know a lot about the current players. But so far no one, neither the management, nor the board, has asked me for assistance.

"What hurts me is that no one from the Pakistan camp has thought it fit to ask for my help or advice. I am here and I am willing to help. I have told the PCB time and again I don't want a job, I just want to help out the players."

COURAGE UNDER FIRE

Ryan Harris has revealed he has bowled with pain for more than two decades. The courageous Test paceman said he had not been able to bowl pain-free since "probably 12 or 13 when I started bowling at a decent pace".

Harris, who has a long history of injury, said he "never" walked on to a cricket ground without pain. "That's why I call it my friend, and when I say me, it's not just me, it is bowlers in general," Harris said. "I'd love to meet a bowler who'd walk out onto a cricket field pain free, I don't think I've met one yet."

Harris made the comments in an episode of the SBS program Insight exploring how people respond to pain. Harris said there were times he was so sore he struggled to get out of bed. "I get up sometimes and I say to [my wife] Cherie I don't know how I'm going to do it today," Harris said. "Once I get up the first three or four steps to the shower or to the bathroom, whatever it is, you know, she virtually laughs at me and then probably thinks the same thing. Every step after that it literally sort of starts to feel better."

HENRIQUES BAN UPHELD

Moises Henriques will miss the first match of next summer's Big Bash after the Sydney Sixers failed to have a one-match ban for a slow over-rate overturned. The Sixers had argued the loss of four wickets in the final three overs of the match plus the delays created by the planning of fields with bowlers should have been considered. But CA's playing conditions do not give time allowance for wickets taken, though senior code of behaviour commissioner Gordon Lewis recommended the clause be "looked at with a view to amending it".

Lewis upheld CA's original finding, saying "the behaviour of the fielding side, in my view, suggested a total preoccupation with winning the game and a total indifference to considerations of excessive time". The Sixers have accepted the ruling but said it was a shame the club was fined and Henriques suspended "when they made such a major contribution to the final being an outstanding success". "We are fully supportive of Moises making the winning of a tournament as prestigious and popular as the Big Bash his overwhelming priority," Sixers general manager Dominic Remond said.

TEST STATUS FOR IRELAND URGED

Michael Holding says Ireland should be given Test status immediately to prevent the country from losing more players. Ireland have already lost Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin to England as both men wanted to play Test cricket. "Ireland need to be recognised now," Holding said after Ireland's upset victory over the West Indies. "It's about time. Otherwise they'll keep losing cricketers."

Ireland cannot achieve Test status any earlier than 2018 when the winner of the 2017 Intercontinental Cup, featuring the top associate nations, play the lowest-ranked Test team. The winner either retains or gains Test status.