LAHORE: After announcing the central contracts for 19 players without having a national selection committee in place, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to announce the squads of the six teams for the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy which starts on September 12.

The Sindh, South Punjab, Central Punjab, Federal Areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan teams are formed after the domestic cricket system underwent a revamp which ends the direct involvement of departments in the game.

The list of central contracted as well as domestic teams’ squads are traditionally named by the national junior and senior selection committees. However, this time the board is managing the task without any such committee.

The board cut down the number of centrally contracted players from 33 to 19 this year and provided increase in monthly stipends ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent.

Reportedly, PCB directors Haroon Rashid, Zakir Khan and Mudassar Nazar have selected the players for the contract. It has been learnt that now Haroon, director domestic cricket, has almost finalised all the six provincial team squads to contest in the Quaid Trophy.

It is strange that the PCB has not yet made any significant progress in replacing Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former national selection committee head, who left the post on July 17. The PCB is instead looking for a new head coach and batting, bowling and fielding coaches for senior side.

As the PCB switches on to the new system of domestic cricket, leaving the previous one based on regional level to a provincial one, a selection committee should have been formed much earlier to select the players on merit.

The federal cabinet has given the approval to the amendments in the PCB constitution in its last meeting held on Friday.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2019