February 22, 2004

Without a Professional first class setup, Pakistan cannot ascend to the top of world cricket

Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board held two seminars to discuss pertinent issues in Pakistan cricket. Top on the agenda was the first class structure of the country. Until now, we have thrived on talent only. However, it’s time to add a system to it — a system which no future Board could change and which could guarantee the prosperity of our cricket.

For the existence of a proper domestic setup, it is the onerous task of organizing a cricket match that matters the most. Of all the requirements, a basic infrastructure is the bare essential and from there on a platform is set. With the exception of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, almost all other Test playing countries have proper first-class structures that polishes the latent talent, which, in turn, presses for a place in the national team.

Sri Lanka has the much touted and productive school cricket setup as the launching pad, while the struggling Bangladesh relies on their One-Day league for recruitments in the national squad.

The Australian cricket structure is by far the best of all and the dominance of their national team at the international level bears a testimony to that. The Australian first class tournament is confined to six state teams. Come what may, whoever takes charge of the cricket board, the system is there and no one dares alter it to his liking. Even the best performers have to consistently prove their skills and never get entry on just one single season performance. Merit is the only criteria to get into the Australian national team.

“Each young kid who plays cricket in Australia understands there is no favourite, they know the roadmap to play at the top level. But kids in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh don’t know that roadmap,” remarked former Aussie great Dean Jones. It may be another point of debate as to why England is struggling on the international stage when everyone agrees that their County cricket system is systematic.

The bane of Pakistan cricket is that we have been engaged in the debate of what should be the ideal cricket structure? Whether we should abolish the departments and start regional cricket to attract more crowds, has not allowed us an unequivocal system. With every change at the top of the Board comes a new structure, and with our domestic cricket taken so non-seriously by our top players, the end product has not attracted any sponsors.

“We will have to first make the product attractive and then only we can sell it and the same applies to our first class cricket. We can’t attract sponsors until we make our first class cricket attractive,” argues Jamal Mir, an advertising professional.

To have an ideal structure we will have to dig deep. School cricket should be the first step and this has been the most neglected area. The irony is that in our country we can only lament at the extinct sports activities at our educational institutions. Unfortunately, in the past 25 years, school cricket has been neglected to an extent that one of the most requisite talent factories a country can boast of has been shut down.

The PCB, through its sponsors, did take the initiative of sending expert coaches to a few schools, but we need to take few more steps. Schools can be the talent factory at Under-12, Under-15 and Under-17 levels and thorough coaching, regular tournaments, a cycle can be achieved. This would also solve the problem faced by the national selectors to choose under-age cricket teams for international assignments.

Since cricket is the most followed sport in Pakistan, efforts should be launched to convince the Federal Education Minister to include cricket in the curriculum of all those schools that have the facilities. CD-ROMs with rudiments of cricket can be supplied to such schools so that students can learn the basics of the game even when not on the playing field.

Partnership between schools and local clubs, as done by the PCB last year, is a noble idea and can be furthered to optimal effect. Like in England, where the ECB hired the services of legendary Dennis Compton, the PCB can hire Hanif Mohammad, Fazal Mahmood and others to take time out and visit schools to nurture talent.

Australia’s solid base is only because of its strength at the school level. Cricket Australia (CA) invested in cricket at the grassroots level 25 years ago. That has helped Australia attain a leading position in the world of cricket. Australia’s success internationally and the strength of its domestic competitions are a testament to the efficacy of their junior development programmes, which continue to flourish. The result is that Australia gets talented cricketers to induct in its academy and scholarships are awarded to the best players.

In the same way, a PCB School scholarship can also be introduced under which ten best cricketers of the country can either be sent to Australia or England for high level coaching. A Combined Schools team can also be entered in either the Under-17 or Under-19 national events so that the young players can burnish their talent by playing one rung higher.

We have the national academy to hone the talent in Lahore. The next step could be College/University level cricket which could also be run with the support of Club level cricket. Now comes the role of departments. The role of departments can never be ignored from Pakistan cricket. Whatever one may say, that departments have spoiled our first class cricket etc. etc. The fact remains that in our socio-economical sufferings, it were the departments who provided the bread and butter to the cricketers. But with changing times and many a departments shutting down their sports departments, it is now the duty of the PCB to invest on the first class cricket and cricketers.

The investment can be done either directly through the PCB or through Associations. PCB can raise the amount through sponsorships, franchise of teams (already in the PCB charter and some has been achieved), investments in lucrative businesses, floating shares of teams and building Club Houses in various cities or through television rights. Around 400 first class cricketers should be on the PCB payroll under a system. The top 100 first class cricketers should get Rs10,000 per month (total annual Rs12 million), the next 100 should pocket Rs5,000 (annual Rs6 million) and the next 200 on Rs2,500 (annual Rs6 million). The total expenses on salaries come down to Rs24 million annually.

Moreover, timings of the first class season should not coincide with the English season so that players can also earn and polish their skills by playing in England. That could be the beginning and once it runs on smooth lines, fruit will come.

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