02 May 2004	Sunday	11 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, May 1: Delegates from 25 countries will take part in a two-day seminar on International Cricket Development here on May 9 and 10.

International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ehsan Mani, chief executive Malcolm Speed and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) secretary and chief executive Roger Knight will attend the seminar which is being organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on behalf of the AsianCricket Council (ACC).

The other high profile personalities expected to attend are: former captains Greg Chappell (Australia), Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri (both India), CliveLloyd (WestIndies) and Ramiz Raja (Pakistan) besides Barry Richards (South Africa) and Bob Woolmer of England who is also ICC's high performance manager.

The objective of the seminar is to benefit from the professional expertise of cricket development related officials from all over the world for scientific development of cricket in Asia, to provide a platform for improved synchronisation between Asian and global development programme initiatives, to share information and ideas to clearly define pathways to cricket excellence, identification of a system with a database of professionals in various areas and projection of expert recommendations from ACC and ICC regarding key development areas.

During the seminar, workshop sessions will also be held on Asia specific cricket development, global specific immediate cricket development needs, cricket education processes, high performance programmes in developing cricket world, ground and pitch development in associate and affiliate cricket, physical fitness initiatives in associate and affiliate countries, developing media relations and planning cricket facilities. The workshop will be held on the second day of the seminar.

The participants will also exchange views during the seminar.

The ICC chief executive will talk on good governanceand cricket development followed by Barry Richards's speech on "Is too much professionalism harming the game?

In the second session on the opening day of the seminar, PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan will discuss the performance of Pakistan cricket and the cricket team while Clive Lloyd will talk on the rise and fall of West Indies cricket through development microscope.

In the third session of the day, Bob Woolmer will speak on elite coaching and cricket development, Greg Chappell will talk on secret of the best batsmen and how to train them whereas Roger Knight will brief the audience on MCC's role incricket development.

In the fourth session, speeches on pathway to cricket development in Africa, significance of Cricket Australia-ACC relationship, and how far should television technology be utilised in umpiring will be delivered.

On the second day, New Zealand's ground and pitch consultant Keith McAuliffe will discuss the role of pitch preparation incricket development, while Tim Anderson, Development Manager, ICC Asia Pacific, will speak on the pros and cons of a development programme.

Besides officials from ICC and ACC and former Test cricketers, officials from Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Nepal, HongKong, Thailand, Maldives, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Iran, United Arab Emirates, India and Pakistan will participate inthe seminar.