March 13, 2002	Wednesday	Zilhaj 28, 1422

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KARACHI, March 12: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) plans to hold national team’s training camp from March 22, thus once again ruining and devaluing the importance of the ongoing National One-day Championship.

The camp will be staged in Lahore for preparations for April’s Sharjah Cup and followed up by New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan for two-Tests and three One-day Internationals.

With Pakistan battered by Sri Lanka in the Asian

Test Championship final, it is need of the hour to allow the national team players continue to represent their respective teams so that they can have the badly required match practice.

Moreover, the one-day championship serves as an excellent opportunity to the players as they will be playing at least seven One-day Internationals before the first Test begins at Lahore from May 1.

But the PCB and team management thinks otherwise. The training camp is not only a waste of energy, but also valuable resources.

Time and again it has been proved that there is no substitute to match practice but the silly mistake of holding camps during the domestic season is repeated time and again.

The PCB is not only sabotaging its own event, it is making things difficult for the departments as they are seriously considering pulling down shutters on their teams since the star players are hardly available for them.

Needless to say that it were the follies of the previous establishments that former champions United Bank and PNSC are no more contributing towards the cause of cricket.