ISLAMABAD: Over 500 cricket players participated in open trials conducted by CDA for Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s President Trophy Grade-II tournament.

The two-day trials, which concluded on Sunday at the National Cricket Ground F-7, were supervised by Test Cricketer Yasir Hameed. Amongst other players, a speed gun from Swat, Roshan Ali, 22, who bowls around 90 miles per hour, was also spotted.

The 47-year-old Yasir Hameed, with experience of 25 Test and 56 One-Day Internationals from 2003-2010, recently joined CDA as the head coach of its cricket team.

Speaking to Dawn, he said out of total 500, around 50 players had been shortlisted.

“Now shortlisted players would participate in trial matches then we will finalise 20 best players for President Trophy Grade-11,” he said and added that four teams would play trial matches. The former test cricketer said his main target for CDA team was winning the Grade-II Trophy to move into Grade-I - first class cricket.

Meanwhile, CDA’s director sports Malik Attaullah said on the special instruction of the CDA chairman open trials were conducted.

“Instead of selecting the team in closed-door rooms, the chairman directed us to go for open trials so that players from across the country could get a chance to show their skills,” he said.

“We will finalise the team purely on merit,” he claimed.

It is relevant to note here that like cricket CDA has teams of hockey and footballs, but their performance is not up to the mark.

Earlier, the CDA had no professional coach; however, it has hired the services of Yasir Hameed for the championship.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025