Any evidence to back up the decline in Pakistan batting standards due to poor batting wickets?

[Savak]

Since the absence of International Cricket in Pakistan since 2009, almost all experts and ex-test cricketers in the media have commented that wickets in Pakistan have become extremely slow, grinding, aid medium pacers and batsmen have no choice but to graft, survive and do not get rewarded for their shots.

Ijaz Ahmed has said, Inzamam ul Haq has said the same thing, Misbah ul Haq in a recent interview said the same thing where he was like that poor batting wickets in domestic cricket mean that you have batsmen coming into international cricket with no confidence, with no variety in shot making, where bowlers are no longer compelled to work hard, to bowl at 140 km/hr plus, where bowlers know full well they will be rewarded even if they turn up unfit and bowl at 120-125 km/hr.

Najam Sethi in a recent interview mentioned that people don't understand just how expensive it is to completely revamp the pitches, stadiums, it is costing the PCB billions just to work on the National Stadium and the project has taken up 6-8 months not to mention the cost and difficulty of hiring foreign pitch curators to train our local maali's and groundsmen. You can imagine how much it will cost the PCB to revamp the stadiums in other cities in Pakistan like Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta e.t.c.

I believe the domestic stats of the last 10 years where we have the likes of Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Asad Ali and co topping the bowling charts clearly indicates something is not right because we have seen these bowlers look like net bowlers in International Cricket.

The national team has been playing all of its cricket in the UAE and the UAE wickets aren't conducive to stroke play where the ball comes on to the bat easily. Scores of 250 plus are the average best you can do here unlike the batting wickets of India where the ball comes on to the bat nicely.

How did the IPL batting sides due when they were forced to play the IPL in UAE? How do the super aggressive super star batsmen from Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka do in these conditions?

 

[Markhor]

One stat is indicative of how bad the pitches are.

The average 1st innings score in last season's QEA Trophy was lower than Zimbabwe's Logan Cup (their FC competition). Either our batsmen have suddenly become worse than Zimbabwe or something is badly wrong with the conditions.

Sometimes you have to be willing to spend money now that will bear long-term results. If you can't refurbish all the pitches - then leave the out grounds and just fix the major venues. We cannot pennypinch on fundamentals like pitches and balls, unless we want a further decline in our batting standards which is mediocre as it is.

 

[OoparCut]

Since the absence of International Cricket in Pakistan since 2009, almost all experts and ex-test cricketers in the media have commented that wickets in Pakistan have become extremely slow, grinding, aid medium pacers and batsmen have no choice but to graft, survive and do not get rewarded for their shots.

Ijaz Ahmed has said, Inzamam ul Haq has said the same thing, Misbah ul Haq in a recent interview said the same thing where he was like that poor batting wickets in domestic cricket mean that you have batsmen coming into international cricket with no confidence, with no variety in shot making, where bowlers are no longer compelled to work hard, to bowl at 140 km/hr plus, where bowlers know full well they will be rewarded even if they turn up unfit and bowl at 120-125 km/hr.

Najam Sethi in a recent interview mentioned that people don't understand just how expensive it is to completely revamp the pitches, stadiums, it is costing the PCB billions just to work on the National Stadium and the project has taken up 6-8 months not to mention the cost and difficulty of hiring foreign pitch curators to train our local maali's and groundsmen. You can imagine how much it will cost the PCB to revamp the stadiums in other cities in Pakistan like Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta e.t.c.

I believe the domestic stats of the last 10 years where we have the likes of Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Asad Ali and co topping the bowling charts clearly indicates something is not right because we have seen these bowlers look like net bowlers in International Cricket.

The national team has been playing all of its cricket in the UAE and the UAE wickets aren't conducive to stroke play where the ball comes on to the bat easily. Scores of 250 plus are the average best you can do here unlike the batting wickets of India where the ball comes on to the bat nicely.

How did the IPL batting sides due when they were forced to play the IPL in UAE? How do the super aggressive super star batsmen from Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka do in these conditions?

Lot of misinformation and propaganda being repeated here. Why would you need foreigners to fix the pitches and stadiums? Does grass not grow in Pakistan? What about the pitches that were used in the 80s, 90s etc? Did those groundsmen all get abducted by aliens?

Sure, there maybe a bit of a resources issue, but to claim that PCB "needs billions" is an exaggerated excuse.

There was a Pakistani Cricket journalist who had a twitter thread pointing out all the issues in Pakistan FC cricket - I forgot his name - he nailed all the issues - and most of them have to do more with incompetence and apathy than anything else.

PCB's accounting and budget reports have to be taken with giant containers of salt - one year, when Mr. Sethi was feeling pressure about admin expenses and his personal trip to the Caribbean along with the touring Pakistani team, PCB released an annual report where their profit margin was among the highest in the world. The following year, as part of making its case for extra subsidies from the ICC, their budget showed massive losses. Both of those can't be right. The actual accounting would reveal too many shenanigans, and will never see the light of day.

 

[OoparCut]

Mr Sethi's latest brainwave is to get the PSL franchises to "take over" the FC cricket associations - its foolhardy and more likely a political move to entrench his control over the inner power politics of the PCB. Privately owned Franchises will NEVER have the same agenda for player and team development in a First Class structure - the entire thing would be oriented around the needs of the franchise, i.e. its T20 requirements for a handful of games per year. That's a disastrous proposal. But if it helps the PCB Boss strengthen his grip, then who cares right? Its yet another example of misguided and mal-intentioned "structural reform" that the PCB keeps attempting with its FC cricket.

Until Pakistan cricket is run by cricketers, for the benefit of cricketers, nothing will change. I don't see this happening anytime soon. So the most likely fate is that Pakistan Cricket will continue to muddle along as

 

[sshakir411]

Mr Sethi's latest brainwave is to get the PSL franchises to "take over" the FC cricket associations - its foolhardy and more likely a political move to entrench his control over the inner power politics of the PCB. Privately owned Franchises will NEVER have the same agenda for player and team development in a First Class structure - the entire thing would be oriented around the needs of the franchise, i.e. its T20 requirements for a handful of games per year. That's a disastrous proposal. But if it helps the PCB Boss strengthen his grip, then who cares right? Its yet another example of misguided and mal-intentioned "structural reform" that the PCB keeps attempting with its FC cricket.

Until Pakistan cricket is run by cricketers, for the benefit of cricketers, nothing will change. I don't see this happening anytime soon. So the most likely fate is that Pakistan Cricket will continue to muddle along as

Hit the nail on the head. Pretty much 80% of the posters here were upset when certain franchises didn't pick anyone form their home city. The franchise model to this day is complex for most Pakistanis to understand and many recommended having a regional quota for franchises.

 

[OoparCut]

Hit the nail on the head. Pretty much 80% of the posters here were upset when certain franchises didn't pick anyone form their home city. The franchise model to this day is complex for most Pakistanis to understand and many recommended having a regional quota for franchises.

There is nothing wrong with Franchise Cricket operating along the sidelines of FC cricket. It will create an alternative structure and a platform for Pakistani talent to practise and get opportunities and visibility. But they are run with the goal of making profits, and that happens by winning in T20 league. The priority is never going to be to generate talented cricketers for the national team.

In fact, I would argue for the reverse - in an ideal world, state and provincial First Class teams should have been linked to Franchise teams to begin with, so that players would be motivated to apply their best efforts in FC cricket, so that it stays competitive and breeds the next generation of players. India missed this boat, the BBL has done this.

But the BCCI has very clearly underlined the primacy and importance of FC cricket as the main pathway to selection for the national team. That helps in keeping the FC cricket healthy and competitive. From what I see, PCB is failing to stem the decay and withering of Pak FC cricket into irrelevance. Just like the WI cricketers are global T20 mercenaries, I see Pakistani top players spending a big chunk of their time playing for foreign leagues. Where does that leave Pak FC cricket? It means the left-over players will keep the standards mediocre, and instead of hard competition, exposure to top seniors, the young players of Pakistan will continue to step to the international level, unpolished and unready. Sure, you may get a freak talent once in a while, but almost all of them will struggle with the "sophomore slump".

If a Cricket Board wants a strong national team, they cannot do it without a strong and healthy FC structure. The only reason the great Australian team of the 90s was so strong, is because their FC structure was super competitive and high calibre, and threw up polished quality players consistently.

I'm afraid when I look at SA, Pakistan, NZ, I don't see any sign of these nations getting their FC structures in proper health. Let's not even talk about the likes of WI, SL, BD.

There's a reason why there's only 3 or 4 quality teams in test and ODI cricket - Cricket needs stronger teams, else it just becomes predictable and boring.

 

[Savak]

Mr Sethi's latest brainwave is to get the PSL franchises to "take over" the FC cricket associations - its foolhardy and more likely a political move to entrench his control over the inner power politics of the PCB. Privately owned Franchises will NEVER have the same agenda for player and team development in a First Class structure - the entire thing would be oriented around the needs of the franchise, i.e. its T20 requirements for a handful of games per year. That's a disastrous proposal. But if it helps the PCB Boss strengthen his grip, then who cares right? Its yet another example of misguided and mal-intentioned "structural reform" that the PCB keeps attempting with its FC cricket.

Until Pakistan cricket is run by cricketers, for the benefit of cricketers, nothing will change. I don't see this happening anytime soon. So the most likely fate is that Pakistan Cricket will continue to muddle along as

I would rather that we try giving some responsibility to Franchise owners and the private sector. We have seen for the last 70 plus years what agenda the regional associations have had for player development in the region. The private sector is motivated by the bottom line, a player who performs will get the nod over the non performers and the PSL Franchise owners will do what is best for the Franchise.

As far as former cricketers are concerned, no thank you, we have seen what the ex test players in the PCB i.e. Javed Miandad, Intikhab Alam, Haroon Rasheed, Iqbal Qasim, Wasim Bari and co have done for Pakistan Cricket.

 

[Oligochaetes]

it is costing the PCB billions just to work on the National Stadium

Must be preparing an 'Out of the world' stadium

 

[Chief Destroyer]

The lack of qualified coaches is the only reason. India's club coaches are more qualified than our academy coaches. Stop complicating things unnecessarily. If the talented kids are taught correctly from a young age, why wouldn't they succeed?

Every successful sporting nation has a system behind it to nurture its talent.

Batting is a very technical skill and mastering it requires knowledge and patience, we don't have either.

 

[Slog]

From what I see, PCB is failing to stem the decay and withering of Pak FC cricket into irrelevance. Just like the WI cricketers are global T20 mercenaries, I see Pakistani top players spending a big chunk of their time playing for foreign leagues. Where does that leave Pak FC cricket? It means the left-over players will keep the standards mediocre, and instead of hard competition, exposure to top seniors, the young players of Pakistan will continue to step to the international level, unpolished and unready. Sure, you may get a freak talent once in a while, but almost all of them will struggle with the "sophomore slump". .

This!

Very good analysis. We had this ridiculous situation 2-3 years ago where the top 20 or so players from our domestic cricket signed BPL contracts and we had club level cricketers playing the QeA tournament

That year BPL signed up a bucketload of Pak domestic players