Club cricket resumption: Regional stakeholders still waiting for interim setup

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Governing Board meeting this week disappointed the regional stakeholders and club cricket organisers who had expected permission of organising club cricket across the country, ‘The News’ learnt on Sunday.

But the board did not even discuss the matter.

More than 14 months have passed since the associations were abolished on August 19, 2019.

There had been reports that that PCB had finalised the names of the officials for the regional associations interim setup for one year and that there would be 90 city associations.

In September, PCB said that it would include its staff in the six regional associations with the sole purpose of facilitating and expediting the registration process, and the staffers will resign as soon the interim committees are constituted. More than two months have passed but the interim setup has not been announced.

The club cricket has not been organised in the country at grassroots level for past two years due to which young talented cricketers are not getting any competitive opportunities and so their chances of progress have been hurt.

Regional cricket organisers said that due to the absence of club tournaments, the game is declining because youngsters are not emerging.

Mian Aslam, former LCCA joint secretary, told ‘The News’ that the PCB’s policies had destroyed Pakistan’s domestic structure at grassroots level.

He said that six net wickets were established in Pakistan’s most famous cricket coaching and practicing ground in Lahore, but three of them were lying unused, which showed that youngsters were not inclined to take up the sport.

Aslam said that one can imagine what would happen to Pakistan cricket at international level when there was no fresh talent because of lack of grooming.

He claimed that if PCB restarted the club cricket and constituted the six associations right now, the structure at grassroots level would take more than two years to yield results.

He said that youngsters were invited to practise at the nets but they refused to come saying that it would be a waste of time as there were no club tournaments. They said there was no future in cricket as departmental cricket had been abolished, Aslam added.

Former Test cricketer Nadeem Khan, PCB’s director of high performance, said that PCB is working fast on the formation of six regional associations and soon the details regarding the interim setup and restoration of club tournaments would be announced.