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Domestic cricket needs PCB’s urgent attention

By Gulbaz Aafaqi

Pakistan is providing teenage players to international cricket for decades. First major instance is that of Mushtaq Muhammad, playing against mighty West Indies of Gary Sobers at a tender age of 15 years. The vibrancy of our youth cricket has flourished with the passage of time. Recent prime examples are fast bowler Muhammad Aamer and batsman Umar Akmal: perhaps best two teenage players of the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.

This potential reflects enormity of Pakistan cricket talent. But unfortunately the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is not forthcoming to nurture this youth talent at domestic level. Domestic cricket, and more particularly, youth cricket is a prime prey to the PCB ad hoc policies and plans. PCB top brass always engages itself more passionately with international cricket and give comparatively little attention to development dynamics of domestic cricket. How best domestic cricket is to be scheduled and regulated so that new talent is harnessed to the optimum is not a major concern with our cricket bosses.

To sustain this premise the domestic cricket calendar for the year 2009-2010 can be taken as the best example to elaborate the prevalent ad hocism. The inter-district senior tournament, to be contested by 82 grassroots teams, has been postponed. Instead, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, most important domestic event, comprising 22 regional and department teams has started from October 10. The inter-region under-19 three-day tournament, also an important youth event, has been deleted this year. During the last few years, this tournament preceded regional academies, of 45 days duration, to be supervised by regional coaches and availed by 275 boys, performing well in the Inter-district under-19 tournament.

This is really absurd. The domestic schedule should start from grassroots: senior inter-district and inter-district under-19 tournaments. Regional teams are selected or should be selected from those players who perform well in inter-district senior and regional under-19 one-day and three-day tournaments. The regional under-19 one-day tournament will start from November 4. The boys participating will not be benefiting from guidance and services of senior regional coaches as they will be busy with senior regional teams for Quaid Trophy. The under-19 three-day tournament provides budding youngsters ample opportunities to polish their talent and to emerge at national level. Around 200 young players from different regions have been deprived of this enabling opportunity.

Young Umar Akmal, Mohammad Aamer, Shahryar Ghani, Azeem Ghuman, Umar Amin and Ahmad Shehzad have performed exceptionally well during the past couple of years in this tournament and could play Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and represent Pakistan at different levels. The Pakistan under-19 outfit has to play World Cup in late January. Instead of providing talented players enough domestic cricket to sharpen their skills, the PCB has cancelled the event. In a 50-over match at least 300 legal balls have to be batted against and bowled at. Three-day, double innings, matches enable all players to demonstrate their skills.

Yet another great miss is PCB Hunt for Heroes Programme. This programme benefited young boys of under-16 age during the last couple of years throughout Pakistan. The selected boys were trained at district level by PCB qualified coaches for a week and the best of them would play inter-region one-day tournament. Our current under-19 three players, Babar Azam, Usman Qadir and Faraz Ali are product of this programme and they are good prospects. This programme has been scrapped although the agreement was valid for the current year.

It is not assumed that experts sitting in the PCB do not understand imperatives and intricacies of youth cricket. Unfortunately, ad hocism has permeated our body-politic. We have become habitual to live from day to day, procrastinating the day after. It is hardly likely, and very genuinely so, that Pakistan is going to host any quality international cricket in coming couple of years because of our volatile security situation. It’s a big dilemma for Pakistan cricket. But it also affords us time and opportunity for soul searching and corrective planning in domestic cricket.

Gulbaz Aafqi can be reached at cricket.soonvalley@gmail.com

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