July 14, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, July 13: International cricket returns to Pakistan in a big way when 10 cricketing minnows battle in the Youth Asia Cup, a qualifying tournament for next year’s Junior World Cup in Bangladesh, from Monday.

The significance of this two-week event is that Pakistan finally gets a chance to play host for the first time in almost 15 months. A major change since New Zealand side abruptly aborted their tour on the morning of the second and final Test here in May 2002 after a bomb explosion outside the teams’ hotel left several people, including a number of French nationals, dead.

Pakistan Cricket Board, which is staging this tournament on behalf of Asia Cricket Council (ACC), has made foolproof security arrangements for all visiting teams.

Zakir Khan, PCB’s general manager cricket operations, while briefing the media on Sunday afternoon, stated that it was a matter for great pride and joy for Pakistan to stage the event as a dress rehearsal for the senior tours by Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand over the next four months, starting from August.

“We will make every effort to make teams comfortable during their stay,” said Zakir.

Originally, Singapore was scheduled to hold this tournament but the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory (Sars) virus in that part of the world, the ACC decided to shift the venue.

Former Bangladesh batsman Athar Ali Khan, who is the tournament director, believes that holding of such events will only help to spread the game in the Asian region. “It will go a long way in establishing Asian countries for higher level of cricket.”

However, some of the officials of the participating teams, especially from the Gulf region, expressed their apprehension as regards the ICC rules which deal with eligibility of players.

They were of the opinion that since some countries had a majority of expatriates in their squads they won’t be able to field the mandatory quota of nine nationals in the playing XI if they make it to the World Cup.

A number of teams here mainly consists of players who come from either Pakistan or India.

The squad from Qatar includes a player who is named after former Pakistan captain and one of the all time greats Wasim Akram. The credentials of Qatari Wasim Akram are not yet known.

The UAE team has a Tanzanian in its ranks by the name of Ali Abdulla.

Among the officials, Brendon Kuruppu, who earned famed for becoming the first Sri Lanka to score a Test debut century — an unbeaten 201 against New Zealand at Colombo 16 years ago — is the manager-cum-coach of the Singapore side.

Another star of yesteryear is the ex-Indian all-rounder Syed Abid Ali, who now coaches UAE.

The format of the tournament is that after playing the 20 league matches the top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semifinals. The ticket for the two lucky finalists is the Junior World Cup.

Groups:

Pool ‘A’: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Republic of Maldives, Singapore, Nepal and Qatar.

Pool ‘B’: Malaysia, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Oman and Thailand.

Schedule:

July 14: Nepal v Maldives at National Stadium; Qatar v Singapore at Karachi Gymkhana.

July 15: Kuwait v Malaysia at Quaid-i-Azam Park; Hong Kong v Oman at National Stadium.

July 16: Maldives v Singapore at Karachi Gymkhana; UAE v Qatar at UBL Sports Complex.

July 17: Hong Kong v Malaysia at PCB Regional Academy Ground; Kuwait v Thailand at Aga Khan Gymkhana.

July 18: Nepal v Qatar at Asghar Ali Shah Stadium; UAE v Singapore at National Stadium.

July 19: Oman v Thailand at Aga Khan Gymkhana; Kuwait v Hong Kong at Quaid-i-Azam Park.

July 20: Nepal v UAE at UBL Sports Complex; Maldives v Qatar at PCB Regional Academy Ground.

July 21: Oman v Malaysia at Quaid-i-Azam Park; Hong Kong v Thailand at Aga Khan Gymkhana.

July 22: Nepal v Singapore at Asghar Ali Shah Stadium; UAE v Maldives at PCB Regional Academy Ground.

July 23: Malaysia v Thailand at Aga Khan Gymkhana; Kuwait v Oman at Quaid-i-Azam Park.

July 25: Winners of Pool ‘A’ v Runners-up of Pool ‘B’ at National Stadium; Winners of Pool ‘B’ v Runners-up of Pool ‘A’ at Quaid-i-Azam Park .

July 27: Final at National Stadium.