Savak
World Star
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Runs
- 51,715
- Post of the Week
- 3
This is his latest interview. I must admit i underestimated his passion for the role in the PCB. You can see it in his eyes and expressions that he means business. Looks like the guy really wanted the role and is determined to make a huge difference to Pakistan Cricket and its structure, systems using all his learnings at Leicestershire to perfect use. Here are a couple of highlights from the interview
He is upset at the propaganda in the media about him using his role in the PCB for a fat salary, paycheque and as a stepping stone for a big role in the ICC going forward. He clarified that he could have achieved a much better package in the UK and has a very settled lifestyle there. He doesn't mind being challenged on performance where he doesn't deliver what he promised but unnecessarily questioning his integrity only sheds a poor light on the media. But i ignore all the tabloid gossip, negativity, i have accepted the fact that you can't win when there are personal agenda's involved, I have come here to do a job for Pakistan Cricket and working for the PCB is a privilege and not an entitlement. I sleep comfortably at night knowing i am doing my job properly
Accepting and going through change is never easy. But it has to be done, you can't be afraid of change and you have to make tough decisions. He was shocked to see there was no strategy in the PCB in terms of assessing where they are right now, where they wish to be in 5 years time so the first thing he has done is to put a strategy in place and then the PCB will align its structure accordingly and that the PCB isn't looking at everything from the top but from bottom to the top
He wishes to establish a solid performance management and professional culture in the PCB where everyone's role and job description will be reviewed, defined and outlined. Every department in the PCB needs to have very clear objectives in place. This will make all the employees determined to prove themselves or people are going to leave very quickly. No one will hide behind "It is somebody elses fault" anymore. The super passionate employees who work hard and have achievements will naturally be supported, fully backed and rewarded. Those who fail to perform and do not achieve whatever they were required too will be moved on. He himself will hold himself accountable to the same standards. Lol looks like no more leeching and free joy rides in the PCB
He appreciated that every country had its own unique needs, requirements and rather than blindly aping English County Cricket or Australian Sheffield Cricket, there has to be a unique domestic cricket structure which works for Pakistan. The PCB is currently working on the domestic cricket structure where the views of all the stakeholders involved will be listened too and taken care off and balanced. We understand that there is a lot riding on the changes we make which is why we are taking our time i.e. the next 2-3 months and not rushing into any big decisions at the moment. But the domestic structure has to be off high quality, there has to be stress in the system and we can no longer compromise on quality. You can't have a domestic system where you have both regions and departments where someone who plays for a department also ends up playing for a region and vice versa, the problem with this system is that it results in the same cycle of cricketers playing over and over again. There are instances where a player who played for a department and when the department team failed to qualify, this player ended up switching over to a regional team which qualified. At the moment we have cricketers who play for Pakistan, we need to actually produce Pakistan Cricketers
He mentioned that red ball cricket matters the most to him, after that came ODI and T-20 cricket. The system needs to find a balance between white ball and red ball
He emphatically mentioned that all the achievements in Pakistan Cricket have mostly been due to talent, individual brilliance and certain players who have come through in-spite of the system and not because of the system. One ODI World Cup, One T-20 World Cup, One Champions Trophy Victory, Test No 1 ranking, these achievements are extradinory given the poor domestic cricket structure in Pakistan. But it is a fact that Pakistan has mostly produced cricketers by luck, not by design and that the current system in Pakistan is not good enough and has to be changed and is the root cause of our inconsistencies in international cricket, he referred to the alarming statistics that in the previous domestic season there were 25 scores of less than a hundred and that in the list of top wicket takers, there was no single genuine quick bowler or spinner. Imagine all the natural talent that is available in the country, just imagine what great things these players can do if they actually have the benefit of a proper system
He mentioned that the wickets in domestic cricket were not good enough and the cricket balls being used in domestic cricket were not good enough either. He mentioned that he can't remember how many domestic players in Pakistan have scored 200 and 300 runs in an innings for the last 2-3 years. He wants batsmen to be able to bat for a good 2-3 days and for the bowlers to be forced to work harder to get wickets and for the wickets to start spinning on day 3 and 4 bringing the spinners into play. The PCB plans to establish an exchange program with the UK, with the ICC where curators will be trained and groomed to prepare better wickets. The way it should work is that every stadium in different parts of Pakistan should have differing characteristics just like how it is world wide and the wickets have got to last for 4 days for e.g. a Karachi wicket which is flat, a Lahore Wicket which seams, a Peshawar wicket with bounce, a Multan wicket with spin e.t.c. Bottomline a domestic player should be exposed to as many different kinds of wickets as possible where he will face the challenge of having to adapt his technique, game to different wickets and conditions. A player who gets selected for international duty should just require fine tuning at best, should be international quality and not be required to be taught the basics. You may not perfectly mimic international cricket but the best you can do is try to bridge that gap as much as possible
He mentioned that he is a big fan of having a no toss rule in domestic cricket, this will eliminate any home advantage for a home side on their ground and give the visiting team a fair chance of victory
He mentioned that wants Domestic Cricket in Pakistan to have one consistent calendar every year, one which will stand the test of time, he also wants domestic cricket to be longer where teams will play each other on a home and away basis, also teams will have a longer time period to prepare between matches with adequate rest, then working hard in the nets. Bottomline every game that the players play has to mean something. This is how you create stress in the system, create high competition and quality. The domestic season should last at-least 6 months as opposed to having everything done in 3 months i.e. October to December. Also scheduling overall has to be a lot more professional for e.g. its not right to rush and run the One day competition and for the selectors to name the probables for a tour on the second day of the competition. There has to be a thought process behind these competitions, where if you are hosting your domestic One Day tournament, then it should be held properly before a major ICC One Day Tournament like the Champions Trophy or ODI world cup leaving sufficient time for selection decisions. Same thing applies to the domestic T-20 competition as well. Things have be aligned properly
He spoke about taking women cricket seriously as well, how they have established an all women's selection pannel led by Urooj Mumtaz, women cricketers who were not paid before will now be paid daily wages, allowances, given central contracts, be given business class travel, facilities and he wants families to break taboos and encourage their daughters to take up the sport. There is no price on being valued as a human being. The women cricketers recent performances have shown great improvement as a result
He praised that there were some coaches in domestic cricket who indeed worked hard with the players, he had spoken to his colleagues in Warwickshire and he wants to set up an exchange program for Pakistani coaches so that they can go to the UK academies and be up to date on modern techniques, methods and practices
He also wishes to set up an exchange program for Pakistani Umpires in the UK, try to get them experience in umpiring in the UK
He also mentioned that he is going to work on trying to get more U-16, U-19, A tours to countries like England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand. It is on these tours we will actually get a chance to see what our cricketers are really made off and how tough they are. Give them a chance to see what is to be expected when they step up a level. We want a seamless transition from the U16, U19, A teams to the point where a player gets called up to represent Pakistan. A player before he gets selected for Pakistan needs to understand what fitness and nutrition levels are required, if they have batted for long time periods, have they worked hard for their wickets. Players need to have an aspiration, players need to deal with their doom and gloom moments in domestic cricket
He was shocked at the fact that there was no concept of sports psychologists in Pakistan Cricket especially in domestic cricket, he wants every domestic team to have a sports psychologist so that players who graduate to the international level do not have any baggage. Players need to understand themselves, what do they look like on a good day, bad day, how to raise your confidences after 2-3 bad performances. Resilience and mental skills training need to be taught at the lowest levels otherwise it can be hard to learn these skills at the top level
Getting international teams to tour Pakistan is one of his top priorities. Unfortunately people in the West have security concerns even though the events in Auckland showed no country is safe. But we will have to take baby steps, getting the first country to tour, then the next. We will try to convince Sri Lanka to tour Pakistan in September October 2019
He was critical of the Pakistani Cricketers in general lacking ambition during their free time and he was upset to see that some players who had been playing for a 15 years even at the international level had very poor English Skills where they couldn't string together 2 sentences. In his view these players are ambassadors for the country and they should be working on their English skills during their free time as English is a universal language
We have a new media team in the PCB. The players are now a lot more accessible than they were in the past and this is all part of our plan to help the players connect with their fans as much as possible
HBL PSL 4 did fantastically well. We are very lucky to have 6 very passionate franchise owners for their investment, marketing, support in the PSL and also for HBL's support as well. The plan is to have the entire HBL PSL 5 to be held in Pakistan. We will deal with the logistical challenges to make it happen and we will work towards getting 4-5 venues up and running for this purpose.
I understand what Cricket means to the country. Just as people excercise, they release endorphins, Cricket in Pakistan does the same for its people. We believe that the PCB overall has a responsibility to the country of Pakistan
