RAWALPINDI: The Parks and Horticulture Authority will arrange night cricket matches starting May 22 for the first time in the garrison city.

The matches will be arranged by the PHA, and sponsored by Punjab Assembly members. Three grounds, including at the Government Degree College in Satellite Town and Hashmat Ali College, have been finalised.

It is tradition in the inner city areas to spend Ramazan nights playing cricket between Iftar and Sehri.

In the past, special arrangements were made for this purpose, including the installation of high beam lights on roads and streets.

Players typically use a soft tennis ball wrapped in white tape to ensure visibility in the dark.

However, local residents have objected to night matches in residential areas. The PHA is aiming to provide young people in the city the opportunity to continue playing cricket in Ramazan.

PHA Chairman Asif Mehmood told Dawn that 16 teams will be made in every provincial assembly constituency in the district. Teams from the district administration, police, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Water and Sanitation Agency and PHA will also participate.

MPAs will be sponsor constituency teams, Mr Mehmood added, and the PHA has finalised discussions with local MPAs in this regard. He said cricket kits and other expenditures will be borne by MPAs while prizes will be given by the PHA.

Mr Mehmood said there are five cricket grounds in the city, of which two belong to the PHA and three are under the administrative control of the education department. There are two more grounds in Rawalpindi in girls’ schools.

He said he had been contacted mainly by traders associations seeking the administration’s support to provide young people with the opportunity to play cricket peacefully instead of in the streets.

Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa on Thursday asked the PHA and district sports department to finalise arrangements to start night cricket matches in Rawalpindi.

He was reviewing arrangements for Ramazan as well as sports activities in a meeting with other senior officials.

Mr Randhawa said young people should be given the opportunity to participate in healthy activities. He said most young people play cricket on the roads and streets, and the administration would provide them with a separate place for night matches.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2019