Keep an eye on the historic visit of the World-XI to Pakistan with the countdown clock, which the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has placed at the main gate of the Gaddafi Stadium. The World-XI, under the captaincy of South African Test skipper Faf du Plessis, will visit Lahore from Sept 11 to 15 to play three T20 matches against Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium.

A successful visit by the World XI may help resume the international cricket in Pakistan, which has been suspended since 2009 for security grounds. As cricketers from top seven nations - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - are included in the World XI, a successful series by all means will inspire cricket boards to start visiting Pakistan. A security official by ICC’s security agency is already in Lahore, monitoring the security situation of the city. A full security team is due in Lahore after Eidul Azha and green signal by them will allow the ICC to give a go-ahead to the World-XI. The PCB has, however, set the countdown timer and started selling tickets. Tickets start at Rs500 and are available at Rs2,500, Rs6,000 and Rs8,000.

The PCB has to spend almost Rs500 million on the series as A category foreign players are charging $100,000 and B category $75,000.

Last time, Gaddafi Stadium hosted the PSL final on March 5 for which the most expensive ticket was of Rs12,000. The packed to capacity Gaddafi Stadium generated Rs1.6 billion through gate-money. The PCB with a better planning can earn a handsome money from the series. If the stadium is packed to capacity, the gate money may touch Rs300 million figure besides the income through broadcasters, title sponsorship and the hoardings at the ground.

The Dar Hockey Academy is back to Lahore after a nine-match tour to Holland where it played matches against different Dutch clubs, winning seven and losing two. In some matches, the rival’s clubs even played with national and international players but this Under-18 side fought well. It also won two matches with bigger margins of 10-0 and 10-2. Muhammad Usman, Wasim Akram, Tauseeq and Asif Hanif played a vital role in winning the matches.

Olympian Tauqeer Dar, who is running the academy, said the tour was successful and the boys learnt modern hockey techniques. He said boys competed well and made many fans in those matches. The conduct of the players also won the hearts of Dutch fans. Dar said it was the fifth tour of the Academy to Europe, where the game of hockey was touching higher standards. He said the academy would again start training sessions after Eidul Azha.

The National AH Kardar Inter-school Championship has entered the semifinal stage and the first pre-final match was held between The Educators, Sialkot, and the Government School Qillah Lakshman Singh, Lahore. The second semifinal and final will be played after Eidul Azha. The Qillah Lakshman Singh School has reached the final. The Pakistan Cricket Board is organising this event to promote cricket at the school level.

This last week, the first course for newly appointed coaches of the Sports Board of Punjab ended after a eight-day coaching period. The course was held for five different games and after Eidul Azha a course for another five sports will start. The Sports Board of Punjab has appointed 150 coaches across the province to pick the best talent. If the coaches perform as is expected from them, the best talent will emerge from the practice. If they work in the traditional bureaucratic style, no one should hope any good in the field of sports. So far, the Sports Board of Punjab has been acting a dull body as a good number of bureaucrats are at the helm, most of them having no experience to run the sports matters. They have proved themselves good at conducting meetings every day without any positive results.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2017