THROUGH THE COVERS: Clear-headedness is what we need
By Zaheer Abbas
A NUMBER of changes have been effected in the Pakistan team and its management. Even more are in the offing as I write these lines. But I hardly find it worthwhile to talk about any of them for it is too early to say anything about something that is still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. Instead, let me complete the discussion I had initiated last week about the basic malady that is nibbling away at our potential to do well at the international stage and do that with an acceptable degree of consistency.
When it comes to doing consistently well, no one comes near the mighty Australians. And, for sure, there is more to their consistency than mere potential or what we love to call natural talent. They have a professional way of going about their business, and take pride in their ability to plan and, subsequently, execute that plan. And we are not just talking about game plan, mind you.
Some three years ago, the Australian Cricket Board came up with a strategic plan for an overall promotion of the game at all levels across the country. It encompassed broadening of the game’s base, spotting the talent, harnessing it on professional lines, expanding the resource pool for national selection, making their domestic circuit truely competitive, and so on. For the national team, the goal was put in clear and precise terms: put runs on the board, and dry them up for the opposition.
The plan was a result of a comprehensive and detailed review of the existing conditions in the country and those in the cricketing world at large. While the plan may sound to be not much different from what we in Pakistan have been saying all these years, the difference lies in the fact that we have simply found it enough to talk about it and the Australians actually went on and did it physically, practically and professionally. And the results are there for all to see and testify to the success of the Australian effort, and, in equal terms, to the failure of the Pakistani tendency fall for the rhetorics.
But that is not the end of the story. Even after reaching a point where they registered a world record string of consecutive Test victories and are considered almost invincible on a cricketing field whatever the form of cricket, the Australian establishment is not sitting pretty on its achievements. Only recently, it has announced a new strategic plan, conceding that three years after the first plan, “Australian cricket arguably lives in a more complex and challenging global environment.” The plan, quite appropriately, is titled, From Backyard to Baggy Green, and is geared, among other things, towards “growing participation in the game, fostering the success of Australian teams, and striving for commercial excellence, in a manner that upholds the tradition, integrity and spirit of cricket.”
The plan that will last for the next three years has four strategic areas: strengthen and protect the spirit of the game; thrive at the elite level; attract, develop and keep people in the game; and ensure cricket has a strong and sustainable financial base. Under the four strategic areas, there are as many as twenty-seven priorities that have been outlined by the planners.
The plan claims, and rightly so, to encompass all aspect of the game from the grassroots through to the elite level and will provide the direction Australian cricket needs to continue as a leader both at home and on the international stage. By doing all this, the establishment itself has an equal, if not greater, role as the players in the overall success of the Australian cricket.
I end this discussion on a note that, perhaps, carries great importance in our own context. By contributing so meaningfully to the growth and success of national cricket, the Australian establishment has ensured a huge resource pool to pick their players from, and that, in turn, controls the behaviour of the players as well. Player power is not a very common term in Australian cricket, because they are controlled by a very strong, well-meaning and professional establishment. Need I say more?
A NUMBER of changes have been effected in the Pakistan team and its management. Even more are in the offing as I write these lines. But I hardly find it worthwhile to talk about any of them for it is too early to say anything about something that is still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. Instead, let me complete the discussion I had initiated last week about the basic malady that is nibbling away at our potential to do well at the international stage and do that with an acceptable degree of consistency.
