Prime Minister Imran Khan approves new domestic cricket structure

[hadiimam]

Do you know what is the difference between wages given to people in English or Australian first class cricket games?

Pakistanis ODI team makes pennies compared to the Aus ODI. Do you really think there can be any comparison between that and what Pakistani first class cricketers will makes, especially if the sponsors pull away their money? Which has a high probability of happening now!

 

[FreePalestine]

In theory, I agree that this system is much better for all the reasons already stated above by other posters.

Two things are critical to its success:

Most important The nepotism in regional team selection must stop. All the players who represent these teams in the new structure must be there on merit. In effect there must be the 66 best cricketers in the country (that are in the system) playing in this league.

Secondly, the pitches they play on must be international standard. Also all cricket equipment - use international quality cricket balls.

If they can do these two things, I am sure this new structure will raise the standard of domestic cricket to new heights. If they don’t then it will just be more of the same.

 

[shah_1]

Sheild cricket players get a lot of money.

Those players playing for 6 teams need to be paid handsomely for making it lucrative and also players playing in the 2nd XI. All those players playing in the region(that will feed players for province) have to be paid as well. No one plays professional cricket for free, so PCB needs to find way to finance all this. Where will they get the money from.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

I knw one of them is gonna go “we r domed , we r done , this team is soo better. That team is so better. This is wrong this is tht and tht is this. We r below burmuda. We r done. We r finished bla bla

 

[Markhor]

That's why it needs a proper tier system, so that at top of the pyramid stays the cream. It's not about 220 mn or 2.2 mn, rather it's about creating an environment here the system filters the best of the best. Even if PAK's population was 22mn still do you think catering 16 X 6~ 100 players was sufficient?

The structure is perfect, question is how they execute it. For a similar size of population, do you know how many registered soccer players are there in Brazil? 3.5 million - that's more than the entire population of many countries. And, Brazil soccer has 18 or 19 tiers ...... the bottom 2-3 of those 19 covers over 3 million of those 3.5, so you can understand how they are catering them, but still it's has a framework and some kid playing in 4th division of Manaus league deep in Amazon has a hope that someone is keeping eye on him.

Also, I am not sure if you have read Wasim Khan's detailed frame work of this model - let me summarize it for you with numbers -

Top tier: 6 Regional/State Teams with a 2nd 11 tournament running simultaneously = 6 X 25 ~ 150 players

2nd tier: District/City based teams - I presume around 100 teams at least (PCB probably has around 96/96 Cricket districts, somewhere I read in past) = 100 X 20 ~ 2,000 players

3rd tier: Club cricket - roughly 5,000 clubs = 5000 X 15 ~ 75,000 players.

On top of that, there will be U13, U16 & U19 cricket, school/college cricket, which should cover another 100K at least.

They are not reducing the scope, rather creating a top tier which ideally should be 85-90% in terms of degree of difficulty to international cricket (And much more competitive than bashing ZIM reserves or choking against AFG talunt), so that players are mentally stressed, physically challenged and skill wise up to date. I give you one example that I myself got badly exposed - Faheem Ashraf. Before PSL/PCT, he had a 3-4 years FC career and had stats like 29 average with bat and 27 with ball from domestics, after good numbers (close to 40) FC games - in an ideal case, you can expect a 15 or at most 20% discount in International stage - say roughly 25 average with bat and 29 with ball .... guy is suffering from 150-200% discount!!!!!! If you look at players playing in English Counties between 1970s to 1990s, many of them have a better Test/ODI stats than FC/List A stats .... same is the case for most Aussie players playing Shield cricket in 90s. We are not expecting that, but at least there has to be a minimum standard.

This will be a final nail indeed, if -


1. Still PSL remains the epitome of PAK cricket
2. Still 32 years young Saad Altaf's keep playing First Class Cricket
3. Still 25+ years old "kids" with double shaven chin keep using U19 training & facilities
4. Still they keep playing this joke of FC cricket with 4 innings between T20 & List A, on what is the worst wicket in cricket world, that too in PAK winter with fog, smog, rain, and daily 5 hours playing light.
5. Still every player keeps playing all sorts of cricket like a hired gun mercenary - from PAK National team to Patrons trophy, Ramadan Cup .......
6. Morally corrupt, professionally incompetent, personally biased and passionless people keeps on holding key spots like coach, selectors, administrators.

What this new system also ensures is no minnow bashing like with the current QEA Trophy where 2-3 teams are kings and the rest are lepers. That's how people like Faheem has flattering FC stats.

Youngsters need to be exposed to hard, competitive FC cricket if they're to successfully transition to internationals not current FC matches which are played with all the intensity of an exhibition match in front of empty stands.

 

[DrSchultz]

Wonder if the Balochistan team will be full of Karachi rejects and Islamabad team of Lahore 2nd XI.

 

[DrSchultz]

As someone mentioned earlier, there should be minimal residency requirements of say 2 years to play for any province.

 

[Afhan Ali]

I think it will be failed miserably and damage our cricket even more. Fully agree with Hawkeye. This will even reduce the chances of upcoming talented young players because corruptions are everywhere and all the teams will be filled with domestic bullies, discarded internationals and players link with PCB high official.
We will not see talented players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Saud, Haider Ali, Rohail, Haris Khan..... will find any team.Rather we will see Kamran, Faisal Iqbal, Sir Farhat, Adnan Akmal, Gul, S Tanvir,Butt, Rizwan, Sarfraz, S Ansari (Already 5 wicket keepers so no cance for Rohail....) in those teams.

Scared of change

What we done with this structure in previous 2 decades?

 

[Third Man]

So just to make it bit clear for you and under who have questions.

1) Firstly its easier to pay good some of money to 120 players than around 500 players. All the departments who owned team will have the oppurtunity to sponsor teams now and you never know if the process is carried out well some other big industrial groups will get involved.

2) Its much easier to give high quality coaches and staff to 6 teams than 18-20 teams. High quality backroom staff will help in nourishing young players in a much better way then before. There is a difference between Mohammad Hasnain being trained and coached by some random guy than for eg Waqar Younus, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Akram etc

3) Each region will have its own set of selectors and yes it would be the key that they are unbiased with sole aim of producing talent for Pakistan.

4) One other master stroke could be if good selectors from region and coaches and back room staff as well get promoted to national set up based upon their performances. That would be good incentive for them along side their normal perks and privileges to do well for their region.

Okay, that's all well and good but I'm worried about the setup at the lower levels? How can an aspiring player make it to one of these six teams? Will they each have a B team, that they can relegate to and promote from?

Another worry as some point out, is that if you have the same personnel managing the regional structure, who's to say they won't be filling up these teams with TTF's and players with connections?

Overall, I don't think it's a big positive change unless a lot of other things are fixed as well.

 

[Shafi]

Scared of change

What we done with this structure in previous 2 decades?

No I like changes but it should address the issues not just cover up and accommodate same useless players again and again.

 

[Syed1]

This piece of news is the only good thing today

 

[King-Misbah]

I believe that selection into the next level in the system should solely done on stats analysis of the players.

For an example, top 2 average/SR batsman from Punjab city level can open for Punjab. This will develop temperament of batsman and also weed out corruption.

 

[MMHS]

Wonder if the Balochistan team will be full of Karachi rejects and Islamabad team of Lahore 2nd XI.

Regions/states are just names, you could have made it Imran XI, Javed XI, Wasim XI, Kardar XI, Hanif XI, Waquar XI ......... bottom line is most of top 100 players are competing against each others, and you need an area demarcation to cover whole country, so that you have a "home" for creating a fan base. Majority players come from Punjab & Sindh, because they have higher population, better infrastructure and a established system ... that's the case for every country - even among 1.4bn Indians, greater Mumbai and Greater Delhi produces more players from 50 mn population, than probably rest of IND.

It's not even a problem at all. FC players will be registered under one of these 6 areas/states and players will need NOC from his domicile board/association to represent any other 5 teams. Theoretically, at the start, say out of top 200 registered players, Sindh has around 35 - they will Register 25 of their choice and rest 10 are allowed to represent any other team. This might look that some teams will be weaker because they are getting rejected players, but it doesn't work like that - it gives opportunity to some players as well. Border & Gilchrist were born in NSW and they won't had made it to FC cricket early, so Border moved to Queensland, Gilchrist to WA. Even Greg Chappel moved to Queensland leaving their 100+ years old residence (& locality), because his elder bro was South Australian Captain and unless Greg leads a Shield side, he won't be considered for AUS Captaincy.

What PCB needs is to protect smaller states/teams in terms of talent management. Say this kids Naseem Shah or Haider Ali are not making it in Punjab/Sindh team (Or being rotten on bench), so they move to Baluchistan, play every game and make a grand season - next year, Punjab (Or Sindh) must not be allowed to snatch them, rather B'tan team must have some protection to retain their players from past season - In Bangladesh, I think it's set for 2 years (that's if you are playing for a 2nd region outside your registered base, that team reserves the NOC rights for next 2 seasons).

Also, there are few players from remote areas, who often don't get the equal opportunities (obvious - Karachi/Lahore Coach/selector isn't going to back a similar talented kid from Gawadar over the boy training under him for years). But, this model covers the entire country under one umbrella - everyone has at least a chance. Damien Martyn actually was a Darwin native, and he failed to make it in NSW trial .... Western Australia picked him.

It's a very good model - on papers, it's full proof. But remember, the golden rule in any Project Management is that - "..... without strategy & framework, you can't start a Project, without proper execution even the best strategy is bound to fail". With my professional experience, I can tell that of the two, proper execution is tougher - you can have several heads to advise, hardly anyone to walk the talk.

 

[Titan24]

That's why it needs a proper tier system, so that at top of the pyramid stays the cream. It's not about 220 mn or 2.2 mn, rather it's about creating an environment here the system filters the best of the best. Even if PAK's population was 22mn still do you think catering 16 X 6~ 100 players was sufficient?

The structure is perfect, question is how they execute it. For a similar size of population, do you know how many registered soccer players are there in Brazil? 3.5 million - that's more than the entire population of many countries. And, Brazil soccer has 18 or 19 tiers ...... the bottom 2-3 of those 19 covers over 3 million of those 3.5, so you can understand how they are catering them, but still it's has a framework and some kid playing in 4th division of Manaus league deep in Amazon has a hope that someone is keeping eye on him.

Also, I am not sure if you have read Wasim Khan's detailed frame work of this model - let me summarize it for you with numbers -

Top tier: 6 Regional/State Teams with a 2nd 11 tournament running simultaneously = 6 X 25 ~ 150 players

2nd tier: District/City based teams - I presume around 100 teams at least (PCB probably has around 96/96 Cricket districts, somewhere I read in past) = 100 X 20 ~ 2,000 players

3rd tier: Club cricket - roughly 5,000 clubs = 5000 X 15 ~ 75,000 players.

On top of that, there will be U13, U16 & U19 cricket, school/college cricket, which should cover another 100K at least.

They are not reducing the scope, rather creating a top tier which ideally should be 85-90% in terms of degree of difficulty to international cricket (And much more competitive than bashing ZIM reserves or choking against AFG talunt), so that players are mentally stressed, physically challenged and skill wise up to date. I give you one example that I myself got badly exposed - Faheem Ashraf. Before PSL/PCT, he had a 3-4 years FC career and had stats like 29 average with bat and 27 with ball from domestics, after good numbers (close to 40) FC games - in an ideal case, you can expect a 15 or at most 20% discount in International stage - say roughly 25 average with bat and 29 with ball .... guy is suffering from 150-200% discount!!!!!! If you look at players playing in English Counties between 1970s to 1990s, many of them have a better Test/ODI stats than FC/List A stats .... same is the case for most Aussie players playing Shield cricket in 90s. We are not expecting that, but at least there has to be a minimum standard.

This will be a final nail indeed, if -


1. Still PSL remains the epitome of PAK cricket
2. Still 32 years young Saad Altaf's keep playing First Class Cricket
3. Still 25+ years old "kids" with double shaven chin keep using U19 training & facilities
4. Still they keep playing this joke of FC cricket with 4 innings between T20 & List A, on what is the worst wicket in cricket world, that too in PAK winter with fog, smog, rain, and daily 5 hours playing light.
5. Still every player keeps playing all sorts of cricket like a hired gun mercenary - from PAK National team to Patrons trophy, Ramadan Cup .......
6. Morally corrupt, professionally incompetent, personally biased and passionless people keeps on holding key spots like coach, selectors, administrators.

Well put. This structure the way its intended if executed well can turn out to be a good.

Though regarding Faheem's average it was 16 even in List A. His test average is of 23 which is representative of his FC of 29 with discount.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Great news. To make it work selectors will have to be selecting on merit, and only younger players should play. No more than 1-2 oldies on each time

 

[aloo paratha]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] Do you think it could possibly be better if teams select players from all over the country rather than just their region? It would give an incentive to selecting the best players. Would be better for the cricketer since the team who wants him the most will pay the most for him. It would also make it so that the best players are playing, and they are not kept out because their regional team is already very good or are full in that particular position.

 

[Titan24]

Okay, that's all well and good but I'm worried about the setup at the lower levels? How can an aspiring player make it to one of these six teams? Will they each have a B team, that they can relegate to and promote from?

Another worry as some point out, is that if you have the same personnel managing the regional structure, who's to say they won't be filling up these teams with TTF's and players with connections?

Overall, I don't think it's a big positive change unless a lot of other things are fixed as well.

Its pretty easy for a talented cricketer.

> First you will join a cricket club or do well at school level (Plans are there for restructuring of both)

> Then if you do well you will get selected for the team of your city (In the intercity based competitions)

> If you perform there than you might get selected for a regional squad or 2nd Xi of the regions (County teams, Football clubs etc all have 2nd XIs)

> Those 2nd XIs will be competing with each other as well so performers in those matches will surely be looked by the selectors for representation of the regions if they need a similar kind of player and after that you can reach as high as you want by performing.

2nd XIs are also pretty good teams as sometimes out of form players (Really good ones as well) do play for their team's second XIs to get their form back and that also increases the quality of those 2nd XIs.

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] Do you think it could possibly be better if teams select players from all over the country rather than just their region? It would give an incentive to selecting the best players. Would be better for the cricketer since the team who wants him the most will pay the most for him. It would also make it so that the best players are playing, and they are not kept out because their regional team is already very good or are full in that particular position.

Some sort of draft/scouting needs at the start, because it's a fresh start from scratch - 6 proper teams have to be formed first, with all or most bases covered - 3 proper openers, 4-5 middle order batsmen, couple of WKs, 3-4 pacers, 2-3 all-rounders, a full set of different types of spinners. Ideally, there should be a scouting & talent management system under each of 6 teams, who should focus on players from District/Club teams mostly within their jurisdiction and there should be 6 regional academies, administrated/supported from NCA.

Once the system is established and functioning for 2-3 years, then ideally teams should search for particular skill set for their team (like say NPunjab needs a leggi, Sindh needs a express bowler...) - again within their scope, but not strictly restricted to boundary. There must have to have a SOP (Standard Operating Process), so that no team (or individual) bullies the system - rest will be aligned automatically.

For a start, I would like to see PCB HQ shifted from Lahore to Islamabad.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

system isn't even in place yet and people area already wrist slitting. Can you guys be positive for a change? How miserable do you have to be criticizing every single thing.

Thats near impossible with these set of fans lol.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

How will this improve cricket? Only 6 teams? Pak has population of 200m wheres the rest gonna play? On streets?

 

[ataullah]

How will this improve cricket? Only 6 teams? Pak has population of 200m wheres the rest gonna play? On streets?

These 6 teams will have 2nd 11's too and then there's club cricket

 

[Badsha]

How will this improve cricket? Only 6 teams? Pak has population of 200m wheres the rest gonna play? On streets?

6 of the best doesnt mean there arent lower lesgues.

 

[PakLFC]

Expect Aamir Sohail to come on air and have a go at these changes being made. He always does that, don't know what's the matter with that geezer.

 

[farazaidi]

So just to make it bit clear for you and under who have questions.

1) Firstly its easier to pay good some of money to 120 players than around 500 players. All the departments who owned team will have the oppurtunity to sponsor teams now and you never know if the process is carried out well some other big industrial groups will get involved.

2) Its much easier to give high quality coaches and staff to 6 teams than 18-20 teams. High quality backroom staff will help in nourishing young players in a much better way then before. There is a difference between Mohammad Hasnain being trained and coached by some random guy than for eg Waqar Younus, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Akram etc

3) Each region will have its own set of selectors and yes it would be the key that they are unbiased with sole aim of producing talent for Pakistan.

4) One other master stroke could be if good selectors from region and coaches and back room staff as well get promoted to national set up based upon their performances. That would be good incentive for them along side their normal perks and privileges to do well for their region.

Exactly !!

And about nepotism, well it will not go away overnight. One more incentive can be considered that if any region creates a player which gets into the national team, the region also get a stipend for it as long as he stays in the national team. This practice is going on in english county cricket

 

[Mueez]

Crème de la crème.

I like this structure it can be fruitful if implemented well.

The hard-working and the most talented one can only get in the six teams.
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] thoughts?

 

[aqeelPK]

Historic moment in our cricket. Now, PCB should own & manage all 6 teams instead of handing them over to associations. Also, PCB should put clause of broadcasting domestic matches in the upcoming new tv rights deal. This would ensure transparency & will put public pressure on selectors to select players on merit.

 

[farazaidi]

Historic moment in our cricket. Now, PCB should own & manage all 6 teams instead of handing them over to associations. Also, PCB should put clause of broadcasting domestic matches in the upcoming new tv rights deal. This would ensure transparency & will put public pressure on selectors to select players on merit.

that would be the worst decision I'm afraid. We need to develop associations, help them with departments sponsoring them, have their own selectors and talent scouts. PCB cannot and should not micro-manage everything. They should dissolve the powers to the lower level

 

[Mamoon]

Crème de la crème.

I like this structure it can be fruitful if implemented well.

The hard-working and the most talented one can only get in the six teams.

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] thoughts?

It looks good on paper, but as MMHS brilliantly explained, it can only function with a proper tier system where mediocrities are filtered out at each tier. Not every player who end up in the F/C cricket would be international standard, but proper duds should be exposed at junior levels. Also, age-fudging should be kept in check and chuckers should be taken to task. If they cannot fix their action, bye-bye.

In addition, the fitness requirements for the national team and the 6 First-Class sides should be the same. If you are not fit enough to play for Pakistan, you should not be fit enough to play First-Class cricket either. Two years back, Umar Akmal was sent home for failing a fitness test in the Pakistan camp prior to the Champions Trophy, but only after a few days, he was picked to captain Punjab in the Pakistan Cup.

Furthermore, players throughout the ranks should be provided with media training and need to have decent communication skills. They don't need to write like Shakespeare or speak like Obama, but they should been able enough to face the media. It shouldn't cost much money or time or even effort, but it depends on whether PCB believes in developing soft skills, which they definitely should.

In addition, the psyche of Pakistan cricket needs to be changed as well, which is going to be a massive challenge. We need to stop taking pride in our supposed unpredictability and aim to achieve consistency. We need to value rankings and not be comfortable with mid-table rankings in Tests and ODIs because we "can beat any team on our day". If all of this is achieved, there is no doubt that Pakistan cricket can improve significantly over the next 15-20 years.

I am personally not hopeful though, because I believe that we are incapable of changing our rotten mentality. We are all infected by a virus because we weren't vaccinated at the right time.

 

[aqeelPK]

that would be the worst decision I'm afraid. We need to develop associations, help them with departments sponsoring them, have their own selectors and talent scouts. PCB cannot and should not micro-manage everything. They should dissolve the powers to the lower level

Associations should manage lower tiers with the help of departments. Top tier should be in PCB's own hand with help from national team sponsors, private corporations & broadcasters.

 

[Mueez]

It looks good on paper, but as MMHS brilliantly explained, it can only function with a proper tier system where mediocrities are filtered out at each tier. Not every player who end up in the F/C cricket would be international standard, but proper duds should be exposed at junior levels. Also, age-fudging should be kept in check and chuckers should be taken to task. If they cannot fix their action, bye-bye.

In addition, the fitness requirements for the national team and the 6 First-Class sides should be the same. If you are not fit enough to play for Pakistan, you should not be fit enough to play First-Class cricket either. Two years back, Umar Akmal was sent home for failing a fitness test in the Pakistan camp prior to the Champions Trophy, but only after a few days, he was picked to captain Punjab in the Pakistan Cup.

Furthermore, players throughout the ranks should be provided with media training and need to have decent communication skills. They don't need to write like Shakespeare or speak like Obama, but they should been able enough to face the media. It shouldn't cost much money or time or even effort, but it depends on whether PCB believes in developing soft skills, which they definitely should.

In addition, the psyche of Pakistan cricket needs to be changed as well, which is going to be a massive challenge. We need to stop taking pride in our supposed unpredictability and aim to achieve consistency. We need to value rankings and not be comfortable with mid-table rankings in Tests and ODIs because we "can beat any team on our day". If all of this is achieved, there is no doubt that Pakistan cricket can improve significantly over the next 15-20 years.

I am personally not hopeful though, because I believe that we are incapable of changing our rotten mentality. We are all infected by a virus because we weren't vaccinated at the right time.

Perhaps better late than never?

Agree with all your comments though.

We need to have a professional attitude towards cricket and should not think it is just a game.

That is the only way I can see Pakistan come in the top 4 teams of the world.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Going from strength to strength. Next step is weeding out the filth that blocks the path of young players in all the regions. That could take years but at least the overarching structure is in place now.

 

[Bewal Express]

Expect Aamir Sohail to come on air and have a go at these changes being made. He always does that, don't know what's the matter with that geezer.

Ex players are one of the biggest problems because all they are concerned with is making money from the PCB without actually doing anything.

 

[Kiwi]

Love the idea. Would make our first class cricket very competitive but focus should also be to get rid of old cricket mafia who benefitted from the old system.

 

[gazza619]

Great news!

Now can we have some good selectors?

 

[Bewal Express]

Great news!

Now can we have some good selectors?

Can we please have selectors that actually watch some domestic Cricket. They seem to watch the PSL and that's about it.

 

[princeuk]

This is so good, we needed a change and hopefully this will be the right one. I have faith in Wasim Khan.

 

[PakLFC]

Inzi should be batting coach. He is no selector for goodness sake.

 

[Shaka81]

Make sure you have the correct level of rewards for being successful and winning the competition will increase the likelihood of better players being picked on merit. Initially teams might pick the same old TTFs but if the incentives to win are significantly high enough, then the rewards for a team to pick players on merit and win will be greater. It might take time but in 2 or 3 seasons you will have a very competitive structure where every team is desperate to win the top prize.

 

[moghul]

If these FC matches can be telecast live on TV , that would be great, more exposure for players and less likely that a deserving player will be ignored. If that is not possible theses should be recorded and detailed highlights should be telecasted daily.

I watched some Ranjhi trophy games on willow, live, here in USA. As expected there were no spectators in the ground but I'm sure millions were watching on TV at a given time.

 

[HussainRx8]

I think at least the current leadership at PCB are not idiots. I’m sure they have thought through these exact issues.

 

[moghul]

If these FC matches can be telecast live on TV , that would be great, more exposure for players and less likely that a deserving player will be ignored. If that is not possible theses should be recorded and detailed highlights should be telecasted daily.

I watched some Ranjhi trophy games on willow, live, here in USA. As expected there were no spectators in the ground but I'm sure millions were watching on TV at a given time.

 

[CleverSir]

I’ll wait until the PCB unveils the final and full program. The only thing I’d advocate for is 8-10 teams instead of the provincial 6. I also think the second team from Punjab will be based out of Multan (I am fairly confident that at the end of this parliamentary term Southern Punjab will be split off into a 5th province). I’d add. Gilgit-Baltistan team definitely for 7 teams. I’m going to assume a FC tournament of a home and away matches so 10 is way too few in one season.

So to sum up I’d add at least 1 more team (possibly 3). I would want each team to be based out of a permanent “home” stadium which would lead to true “home/away” matches.

 

[RameezRambo_Fan]

This. I was just about to write that.

Also, I am not sure if you have read Wasim Khan's detailed frame work of this model - let me summarize it for you with numbers -

Top tier: 6 Regional/State Teams with a 2nd 11 tournament running simultaneously = 6 X 25 ~ 150 players

2nd tier: District/City based teams - I presume around 100 teams at least (PCB probably has around 96/96 Cricket districts, somewhere I read in past) = 100 X 20 ~ 2,000 players

3rd tier: Club cricket - roughly 5,000 clubs = 5000 X 15 ~ 75,000 players.

On top of that, there will be U13, U16 & U19 cricket, school/college cricket, which should cover another 100K at least.

The third tier should heavily focus on varsity teams...meaning university and colleges which are literally scattered across the country.

 

[Savak]

Heard Aamir Sohail and Salman Butt's criticism, the usual points

- Players in Pakistan have no other source of income, options, opportunities, this is not a welfare state like England and Australia

- Pakistan's population is 220 million vs Australia's 22 million

- The PCB tried this in 2003-04, and it was a big failure

- Pakistan was a world champion in many sports when departments were supporting all other fields, the collapse of Hockey, Squash, Snooker e.t.c is because of lack of sponsorships by departments and not providing jobs to promising players

- Why should a department sponsor a region when it makes no economic sense?

The mafia will never relent or support domestic cricketers.

 

[Shafi]

Does anyone know when the tournament will kick off and selection will take place? I am hoping for the best

 

[Shafi]

@MMH, How about the selectors?How can you identify a selector is doing his job or not when comes to selection.
Also, how can you stop mafia people like Shakil Sheikh, Amir Sohail, Miandad, S Nawaz..... for supporting their prefer players?

 

[mesmerizer85]

We all know how weak our batting and fielding is compared to other international teams. Moreover, apart from Babar Azam I have not seen young dynamic batsmen entering the team.Youngsters are given chances in bowling but not in batting, as 30s aged batsmen are considered good enough. (eg: Abid Ali)

So, the focus should be to find the best talent in batting as a top priority, players who show the grit and intent to to consistently score runs at good strike rates and win games from any position (especially while chasing as this is where we freak out)

Apart from improving the domestic structure there should also be a focus on overseas tours. The best talented players should be sent touring Australia and England to see how they fare in those conditions. This will give a clearer picture of their abilities. Once, all the tick marks are checked that player should be deserving enough for a place in International Team. Not the bhanjas or bhateejas of some PCB member.

 

[Balanced View]

We shouldn't get over excited by this. Pakistan has a population of 200 million people, 6 first class teams, even with 2nd elevens will not be enough to show case the variety of talent that exists.

More importantly the departments provided employment to hundreds of cricketers not to mention support staff 6 regional teams influenced by the government wont be able to that fairly.

I fear that we may end up with a situation where the rich and powerful will come through the ranks due to not needing employment in the same way, and we will lose the real talent.

 

[Abid Z]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

Where do you think the likes of Marcus trescothick, Robert key, Johnathan trott, Ian bell, Kevin Peterson (Surrey and international leagues) when they were dropped from national team before retiring. Cricketers who are not required for national teams are still people who must earn their bread and butter and sometimes they have a bigger point to prove. Just because they are feasting in domestic arena doesn’t mean they are not good cricketers and youngsters can’t learn from playing against them. Two of England’s best domestic performers were hick and Ramprakash but both were failures at international level yet they were respected and admired for what they contributed at county level.

 

[Hawkeye]

Where do you think the likes of Marcus trescothick, Robert key, Johnathan trott, Ian bell, Kevin Peterson (Surrey and international leagues) when they were dropped from national team before retiring. Cricketers who are not required for national teams are still people who must earn their bread and butter and sometimes they have a bigger point to prove. Just because they are feasting in domestic arena doesn’t mean they are not good cricketers and youngsters can’t learn from playing against them. Two of England’s best domestic performers were hick and Ramprakash but both were failures at international level yet they were respected and admired for what they contributed at county level.

Fair point.

Oldies and retired from internationals also play in Shield cricket.

I think the issue arises when the mediocrity we have gets selected for international matches, they always have that desire and lobby for it.

 

[Bewal Express]

Where do you think the likes of Marcus trescothick, Robert key, Johnathan trott, Ian bell, Kevin Peterson (Surrey and international leagues) when they were dropped from national team before retiring. Cricketers who are not required for national teams are still people who must earn their bread and butter and sometimes they have a bigger point to prove. Just because they are feasting in domestic arena doesn’t mean they are not good cricketers and youngsters can’t learn from playing against them. Two of England’s best domestic performers were hick and Ramprakash but both were failures at international level yet they were respected and admired for what they contributed at county level.

Its not a problem if there is a few, problems come when the whole system is clogged up with rubbish.

 

[faraz39]

Does anyone know the incentive or accountability for these (I assume non profit) regional based associations to be efficient and merit based? Does PCB outline any control measures to keep associations accountable?

PSL franchises are privately owned at huge costs so that's the incentive to get rid of nepotism. But the regional associations can easily appoint cronies and old dinosaurs to lead them.

 

[Abid Z]

Fair point.

Oldies and retired from internationals also play in Shield cricket.

I think the issue arises when the mediocrity we have gets selected for international matches, they always have that desire and lobby for it.

I think this shake up is there to address that very issue. Ie let the so called ttf’s (hate that term) compete with the younger guys in front of a big audience and slowly turn the domestic arena into a proper finishing school. The problem is at the moment the international stage is used as a finishing school and players find it hard to learn and adjust mid tour. Pakistan is very lucky to have regional geographic variations so fast pitches and slow pitches balance out. I think there are guys like farhat who could have really benefited from such a shakeup years ago. Of course others you mention like ehsan adil is very young and with the right guidance could well turn out to be a decent new ball bowler. We haven’t had a decent new ball bowler that can seam it both ways since asif. Imagine a few regional grounds where the likes of adil can be bowling to a Azhar Ali, salman butt etc. Such a confidence boost to know this is a standard of batsman good enough for English counties.

It’s very hard to be the chosen few from 6 regions to make up a final 12 as the numbers are more transparent. But if there are 50 teams with countless matches any number of stats can be manipulated to fit the picture you wanna paint to put forward a sifarish player.

 

[Abid Z]

Its not a problem if there is a few, problems come when the whole system is clogged up with rubbish.

It’s harder to pick sifarish ttf’s from 6 regions than it is to pick from 20 odd. But yes to get in the first 12 of a region is a different matter. But I think the psl is a good template.

 

[Savak]

We shouldn't get over excited by this. Pakistan has a population of 200 million people, 6 first class teams, even with 2nd elevens will not be enough to show case the variety of talent that exists.

More importantly the departments provided employment to hundreds of cricketers not to mention support staff 6 regional teams influenced by the government wont be able to that fairly.

I fear that we may end up with a situation where the rich and powerful will come through the ranks due to not needing employment in the same way, and we will lose the real talent.

The cities, schools under the first tier should swap up the rest of the population. The bottom tier needs to work hard to get into the top tier

 

[muqarrab]

That's why it needs a proper tier system, so that at top of the pyramid stays the cream. It's not about 220 mn or 2.2 mn, rather it's about creating an environment here the system filters the best of the best. Even if PAK's population was 22mn still do you think catering 16 X 6~ 100 players was sufficient?

The structure is perfect, question is how they execute it. For a similar size of population, do you know how many registered soccer players are there in Brazil? 3.5 million - that's more than the entire population of many countries. And, Brazil soccer has 18 or 19 tiers ...... the bottom 2-3 of those 19 covers over 3 million of those 3.5, so you can understand how they are catering them, but still it's has a framework and some kid playing in 4th division of Manaus league deep in Amazon has a hope that someone is keeping eye on him.

Also, I am not sure if you have read Wasim Khan's detailed frame work of this model - let me summarize it for you with numbers -

Top tier: 6 Regional/State Teams with a 2nd 11 tournament running simultaneously = 6 X 25 ~ 150 players

2nd tier: District/City based teams - I presume around 100 teams at least (PCB probably has around 96/96 Cricket districts, somewhere I read in past) = 100 X 20 ~ 2,000 players

3rd tier: Club cricket - roughly 5,000 clubs = 5000 X 15 ~ 75,000 players.

On top of that, there will be U13, U16 & U19 cricket, school/college cricket, which should cover another 100K at least.

They are not reducing the scope, rather creating a top tier which ideally should be 85-90% in terms of degree of difficulty to international cricket (And much more competitive than bashing ZIM reserves or choking against AFG talunt), so that players are mentally stressed, physically challenged and skill wise up to date. I give you one example that I myself got badly exposed - Faheem Ashraf. Before PSL/PCT, he had a 3-4 years FC career and had stats like 29 average with bat and 27 with ball from domestics, after good numbers (close to 40) FC games - in an ideal case, you can expect a 15 or at most 20% discount in International stage - say roughly 25 average with bat and 29 with ball .... guy is suffering from 150-200% discount!!!!!! If you look at players playing in English Counties between 1970s to 1990s, many of them have a better Test/ODI stats than FC/List A stats .... same is the case for most Aussie players playing Shield cricket in 90s. We are not expecting that, but at least there has to be a minimum standard.

This will be a final nail indeed, if -


1. Still PSL remains the epitome of PAK cricket
2. Still 32 years young Saad Altaf's keep playing First Class Cricket
3. Still 25+ years old "kids" with double shaven chin keep using U19 training & facilities
4. Still they keep playing this joke of FC cricket with 4 innings between T20 & List A, on what is the worst wicket in cricket world, that too in PAK winter with fog, smog, rain, and daily 5 hours playing light.
5. Still every player keeps playing all sorts of cricket like a hired gun mercenary - from PAK National team to Patrons trophy, Ramadan Cup .......
6. Morally corrupt, professionally incompetent, personally biased and passionless people keeps on holding key spots like coach, selectors, administrators.

What are you talking about? Do you even know how club cricket works in karachi and lahore? There are not even 1000 bonafide clus in pakistan, there are handful, in fact i can counte them on my one had in lahore.

System gave us cricketers that were world class up untill mid 00s when it started showing affects of tauqir zia tinkering, i.e. both for playing conditions and domestic structure. Making it from the club to district and first class team was purely a factor of patronage networks but even then enough talent made it to the right forums.

 

[muqarrab]

you are forgetting a simple thing. the teams with the most talent will win MORE because the cream will be chosen. it will be easier to identify which province is not choosing the best players because less teams = more exposure to scrutiny than WAPDA, PIA.

in fact the provincial makeup of the teams will encourage the better players to be chosen because of ego

All that has happened is that you have reduced the number of first class teams. Don't read too much into provinvcial sides and all, and in case you don't know we already have on parallel competition with region based teams.

 

[muqarrab]

Its not about carting 220 million people its about producing good cricketers to represent Pakistan. There will also be 2nd XIs of every team along with club cricket so if anyone is good enough he will automatically be selected for the region. No point in having mediocre players playing in domestics.

you are implying our talent will improve with this, can you tell me how?

 

[Rellu_Katta]

Heard Aamir Sohail and Salman Butt's criticism, the usual points

- Players in Pakistan have no other source of income, options, opportunities, this is not a welfare state like England and Australia

- Pakistan's population is 220 million vs Australia's 22 million

- The PCB tried this in 2003-04, and it was a big failure

- Pakistan was a world champion in many sports when departments were supporting all other fields, the collapse of Hockey, Squash, Snooker e.t.c is because of lack of sponsorships by departments and not providing jobs to promising players

- Why should a department sponsor a region when it makes no economic sense?

The mafia will never relent or support domestic cricketers.

is the purpose of domestic cricket about getting cricketers a money making function or to get the best team for pakistan? i dont care if the structure doesnt get 220million a job, as long as it gets me 15 amazing players... i cant understand what this argument is about .. and also, the idiots are not understanding that its not just these 6 teams... there will be teams (probably 6-7) in a region with a step wise system for plyers to get into the A category of each region..

P.S. Are we really down to this level where we are listening to Amir Sohail and Salman Butt for cricket recommendations... one a proven crook and other who has proper political affiliation against IK and is a confirmed pshyco?

 

[muqarrab]

Firstly even though there's only 6 FC teams, there'll be a vastly greater amount of cities who'll participate in their own tournament that'll feed into the regions.

Secondly this population argument has never made much sense. Are all 220m Pakistanis aspiring cricketers ? There are always only a limited number of places and the job of FC cricketers is not to give everyone a chance but to FILTER out the best crop of talent who are most likely to graduate to internationals.

Also, Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the 1990s only had 8-9 teams participating so fewer teams in the competition is nothing new !

6 teams comprising of 6*25 players=150 players. You want to chose 3 teams to challenge on all fronts from a national pool of 150 players?

Quoting QeA trophy as a model doesn't mean anything, it never had a static structure and was always very very fluid.

I think yo maybe talking about pentangular cup, which was irregularly played with 5 teams. In 90s general perception was that quality of cricket was good, however it wasn't the premier competition.

I think what was needed was better control of second tier, having a stable QeA trophy format and doing something, everything, about the pitches. I have no issues if this producdes results, but truth be told this isn't an original model that is thought through to suit our situation, instead this is a straight up coy

 

[Sunny_majoka]

This structure will be huge success.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

You know what I think? I think they'll change the system once they get bored so we wouldn't know whether the system actually worked or not. They do this every year like clockwork.

 

[MMHS]

What are you talking about? Do you even know how club cricket works in karachi and lahore? There are not even 1000 bonafide clus in pakistan, there are handful, in fact i can counte them on my one had in lahore.

System gave us cricketers that were world class up untill mid 00s when it started showing affects of tauqir zia tinkering, i.e. both for playing conditions and domestic structure. Making it from the club to district and first class team was purely a factor of patronage networks but even then enough talent made it to the right forums.

I think, I know a bit of what I am talking about and I did know lot about club cricket in PAK. May be things have changed now and I am out of touch for several years, therefore I hope things are not that bad. If there is only about 1000 clubs, than it is a bigger problem - that side needs focus definitely. I believe, 3rd tier of Wasim’s model is about club cricket - if it’s arranged properly, even 1000 isn’t a bad number.

No, that past system didn’t give you any world class player, or may be very few. This is one topic I have discussed so many times, not sure why I need to write it time and again. Only, and I repeat only PAK great that’s probably purely domestic product was a born genius, could have ended with the group of his contemporary greats - Lara, SRT, Panting - Saeed Anwar. Still, since he was a product of this stinky rotten system, lasted just about half a decade, otherwise Saeed could have matched anyone with volume. May be you can add Hanif in that list partially - that’s it.

Rest are entirely or partially developed by foreign resources. I can mention by names - in 50s Kardar, Fazal & Khan Mo were groomed & developed by undivided British Indian system & all 3 played in UK leagues. 60s was a dark period, which would have gone to worse had it not been English Counties & League cricket. 70s to 90s it was all about County Cricket. After that, three great batsmen were nurtured by the guy Bob Woolmer. At the official age of 35, where that unfit chubby guy Inzi reached after couple of years under a pro Coach, only can suggest where he could have gone had Imran forced him to join Counties after 1992 WC, just for 2-3 years. I don’t blame Imran actually to say that Inzi was as talented as SRT or anyone - he saw a young IuH smashing world’s best fast bowlers, much better than Zaheer... but he didn’t wait enough to see Inzi’s weakness being exposed by products of better system. Finally, this guy Babar is lucky that he has Arthur by his side for 3 years.

Trolling in PP is easy but deep inside heart, search some souls you’ll see that in last 3 decades SRL has comfortably passed PAK when it comes to develop world class players from purely domestic resources - next in line is Bangladesh; your perceived better gin won’t produce professional cricketers of highest skills & temperament. PAK’s current cricket state is like 1960s - it’ll get worse, because the context has changed from 1960s, to the level that even PP will stop following cricket - that’ll be the end of it. After the excellent sports culture that was built under communism, you should be alarmed to notice where east European countries are today in Olympics,!soccer World Cup or basketball, ice hockey. Only fools boast about natural tal*nt.

Gen. Zia tried something similar but he left the task half done, hence it back fired. Also, he started few great things that were immediately vandalised once he left - like PAK cricket wickets. I can recall in early 2000s Gen. Zia brought a pro curator and PAK Test wickets for IND, SAF series that time were fantastic- he left & vultures turned those wickets into sh!tbed in few years time. And this current guy Aga Zahid won’t get a job even at minor county grounds based on his resume - that’s bitter truth. Zia started to develop regional academies and proper cricket infrastructure outside Karachi, Lahore - he left and like PCB’s biomechanics lab, everything stopped. Only blunder Zia made is that he allowed too much space for illiterate and useless former greats - then he left suddenly, otherwise he could have kept those ****** in tight chain & get effective output. But, democracy cost PAK cricket unfortunately.

System produces professional sportsmen - Gen Zia tried to start building something; this guy Wasim Khan is trying as last resort - better support him and pray that the guy is successful. If Hockey example wasn’t enough, then I guess nothing will wake up deluded minds.

 

[Markhor]

6 teams comprising of 6*25 players=150 players. You want to chose 3 teams to challenge on all fronts from a national pool of 150 players?

Quoting QeA trophy as a model doesn't mean anything, it never had a static structure and was always very very fluid.

I think yo maybe talking about pentangular cup, which was irregularly played with 5 teams. In 90s general perception was that quality of cricket was good, however it wasn't the premier competition.

I think what was needed was better control of second tier, having a stable QeA trophy format and doing something, everything, about the pitches. I have no issues if this producdes results, but truth be told this isn't an original model that is thought through to suit our situation, instead this is a straight up coy

No I'm not - the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1989 to 1998 had 8-10 teams. You can have a look yourself on the archives.

https://www.pcb.com.pk/quaideazam-trophy-199293/points-table/365.html

It's no coincidence these were some of our best cricketing years, and that we went downhill once Rameez Raja and his successors expanded the QEA Trophy to 18-24 teams after 2002.

By reducing the number of FC teams you increase the competitiveness and intensity of cricket.

Also why are critics making out as if only 6 teams will be playing cricket in Pakistan ? Along with this setup you'l have 2nd XI teams for each region, and a large Inter City competition that'll feed into the regions.

I completely agree on pitches. Substandard durfaces will render this new tournament pointless, but Wasim Khan has mentioned it as a priority.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Perhaps I'm being a bit ignorant here but can someone explain to me what this Waseem Khan has ever achieved in his previous role as a cricket administrator?

 

[shah_1]

6 of the best doesnt mean there arent lower lesgues.

No I'm not - the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1989 to 1998 had 8-10 teams. You can have a look yourself on the archives.

https://www.pcb.com.pk/quaideazam-trophy-199293/points-table/365.html

It's no coincidence these were some of our best cricketing years, and that we went downhill once Rameez Raja and his successors expanded the QEA Trophy to 18-24 teams after 2002.

By reducing the number of FC teams you increase the competitiveness and intensity of cricket.

Also why are critics making out as if only 6 teams will be playing cricket in Pakistan ? Along with this setup you'l have 2nd XI teams for each region, and a large Inter City competition that'll feed into the regions.

I completely agree on pitches. Substandard durfaces will render this new tournament pointless, but Wasim Khan has mentioned it as a priority.

One question

Why India is doing so well despite having so many FC teams?

 

[muqarrab]

No I'm not - the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1989 to 1998 had 8-10 teams. You can have a look yourself on the archives.

https://www.pcb.com.pk/quaideazam-trophy-199293/points-table/365.html

It's no coincidence these were some of our best cricketing years, and that we went downhill once Rameez Raja and his successors expanded the QEA Trophy to 18-24 teams after 2002.

By reducing the number of FC teams you increase the competitiveness and intensity of cricket.

Also why are critics making out as if only 6 teams will be playing cricket in Pakistan ? Along with this setup you'l have 2nd XI teams for each region, and a large Inter City competition that'll feed into the regions.

I completely agree on pitches. Substandard durfaces will render this new tournament pointless, but Wasim Khan has mentioned it as a priority.

I did not disagree with you point about QeA however i did say that QeA trophies format has changed so many times from one end of the specturm to the other that quoting QeAs format as a sign of success is a certain period is pointless. Mind you the premier one day tournament of 80s and early 90s, wills cup, was a big affair and semi final+final was televised on PTV. Quality was pretty good. The quality our FC system produced in late 80s and early 90s may not have anything to do with QeA trophy, thats what i am saying. HBL, PIA, NBP, PAECO, these were around during, before and after the period you are talking about.

Reduction in number FC teams leading to inmproved competitiveness is a conjecture, take football leagues around europes, you have leagues with the same number of teams but different leagues ar hugely mismatched in terms of competitiveness between mid-table teams. You want to have a competitive FC system but the argument that less number of teams means only the best make it to those teams is flawed. This is not really a ladder with connected rungs, it gives the impression that it is but really there is no incentive for the top level teams to select the best of the best for their team. Not only that, we are still suffering from people like shakeel shaikh, and many others that we don't know abot but doing the same as shakeel shaikh, having an outsized says in the way regional cricketing matters. If anything, this system will make sure that it is a magnet for people like shakeel shaikh.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

6 of the best doesnt mean there arent lower lesgues.

How many best teams are there now?

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

At least in football there is 18 teams, 6 is less for a large nation.

 

[Titan24]

you are implying our talent will improve with this, can you tell me how?

Talent is something which cant be improved (Its a natural thing), either you are born with it or not however, a good system can make even slightly less talented cricketers into good cricketers preparing them well through quality and competitive domestic structure.

A slightly less talented cricketer who would have gone into abyss in previous 18-20 teams structure will now actually play against top batsmen and bowlers or atleast will learn something about improving his game while in the squad.

Further this system if executed well will also make sure that talented cricketers opt for cricket as a sport because if the get into one of the 6 teams they will be earning good money instead of struggling to first get into department and then earning the same money as rest of the mediocre 500 cricketers.

 

[Titan24]

People need to understand that while departments helped in a lot of sports it was never a long term solution which current production of cricketers from departments show. There selection criteria and not much importance to grass root talent were also big issues.

 

[shah_1]

I did not disagree with you point about QeA however i did say that QeA trophies format has changed so many times from one end of the specturm to the other that quoting QeAs format as a sign of success is a certain period is pointless. Mind you the premier one day tournament of 80s and early 90s, wills cup, was a big affair and semi final+final was televised on PTV. Quality was pretty good. The quality our FC system produced in late 80s and early 90s may not have anything to do with QeA trophy, thats what i am saying. HBL, PIA, NBP, PAECO, these were around during, before and after the period you are talking about.

Reduction in number FC teams leading to inmproved competitiveness is a conjecture, take football leagues around europes, you have leagues with the same number of teams but different leagues ar hugely mismatched in terms of competitiveness between mid-table teams. You want to have a competitive FC system but the argument that less number of teams means only the best make it to those teams is flawed. This is not really a ladder with connected rungs, it gives the impression that it is but really there is no incentive for the top level teams to select the best of the best for their team. Not only that, we are still suffering from people like shakeel shaikh, and many others that we don't know abot but doing the same as shakeel shaikh, having an outsized says in the way regional cricketing matters. If anything, this system will make sure that it is a magnet for people like shakeel shaikh.

Interesting point

My biggest concern is quite similar as well and also if you really want to copy Australia sheild cricket then better pay handsome amount of money to these cricketers( match fee and season contract). Prize packages for highest wicket taker and run scorers. You also got to pay at 50% of 1st XI to the 2ND XI as well. The regional cricket players will need to paid as well. I again say no one play professional cricket for free

PCB or Wasim Khan better have a finanical model step up, tell us how will they finance region, province 1st and 2nd Xi teams, selectors, coaches, and managers.

 

[AdamM97]

One question

Why India is doing so well despite having so many FC teams?

Unlike India, Australia and England don't have a population of 1.3B people and neither are they as crazy about cricket as India is.

Proportionally speaking, England and Australia are producing more talent compared to India and Pakistan.
That should tell you a lot of how effective their systems are.

 

[muqarrab]

I think, I know a bit of what I am talking about and I did know lot about club cricket in PAK. May be things have changed now and I am out of touch for several years, therefore I hope things are not that bad. If there is only about 1000 clubs, than it is a bigger problem - that side needs focus definitely. I believe, 3rd tier of Wasim’s model is about club cricket - if it’s arranged properly, even 1000 isn’t a bad number.

No, that past system didn’t give you any world class player, or may be very few. This is one topic I have discussed so many times, not sure why I need to write it time and again. Only, and I repeat only PAK great that’s probably purely domestic product was a born genius, could have ended with the group of his contemporary greats - Lara, SRT, Panting - Saeed Anwar. Still, since he was a product of this stinky rotten system, lasted just about half a decade, otherwise Saeed could have matched anyone with volume. May be you can add Hanif in that list partially - that’s it.

Rest are entirely or partially developed by foreign resources. I can mention by names - in 50s Kardar, Fazal & Khan Mo were groomed & developed by undivided British Indian system & all 3 played in UK leagues. 60s was a dark period, which would have gone to worse had it not been English Counties & League cricket. 70s to 90s it was all about County Cricket. After that, three great batsmen were nurtured by the guy Bob Woolmer. At the official age of 35, where that unfit chubby guy Inzi reached after couple of years under a pro Coach, only can suggest where he could have gone had Imran forced him to join Counties after 1992 WC, just for 2-3 years. I don’t blame Imran actually to say that Inzi was as talented as SRT or anyone - he saw a young IuH smashing world’s best fast bowlers, much better than Zaheer... but he didn’t wait enough to see Inzi’s weakness being exposed by products of better system. Finally, this guy Babar is lucky that he has Arthur by his side for 3 years.

Trolling in PP is easy but deep inside heart, search some souls you’ll see that in last 3 decades SRL has comfortably passed PAK when it comes to develop world class players from purely domestic resources - next in line is Bangladesh; your perceived better gin won’t produce professional cricketers of highest skills & temperament. PAK’s current cricket state is like 1960s - it’ll get worse, because the context has changed from 1960s, to the level that even PP will stop following cricket - that’ll be the end of it. After the excellent sports culture that was built under communism, you should be alarmed to notice where east European countries are today in Olympics,!soccer World Cup or basketball, ice hockey. Only fools boast about natural tal*nt.

Gen. Zia tried something similar but he left the task half done, hence it back fired. Also, he started few great things that were immediately vandalised once he left - like PAK cricket wickets. I can recall in early 2000s Gen. Zia brought a pro curator and PAK Test wickets for IND, SAF series that time were fantastic- he left & vultures turned those wickets into sh!tbed in few years time. And this current guy Aga Zahid won’t get a job even at minor county grounds based on his resume - that’s bitter truth. Zia started to develop regional academies and proper cricket infrastructure outside Karachi, Lahore - he left and like PCB’s biomechanics lab, everything stopped. Only blunder Zia made is that he allowed too much space for illiterate and useless former greats - then he left suddenly, otherwise he could have kept those ****** in tight chain & get effective output. But, democracy cost PAK cricket unfortunately.

System produces professional sportsmen - Gen Zia tried to start building something; this guy Wasim Khan is trying as last resort - better support him and pray that the guy is successful. If Hockey example wasn’t enough, then I guess nothing will wake up deluded minds.

I was about to give a serious reply to your rant but then i read the last line and it completely floored me. Prove me wrong on this one, our hockey was decimated because of self annointed and self appointed saviors like birg musarratullah and avm farooq umar. Gen zia was in the same vein. Self glorifying two bit bumbling idiots suffering from delusions of their importance and wreaking havoc on sports with which their only linkage should be one of a fan boy. Tauqir zia, that idiot was so out of touch that he picked consultants and coach anyone he listened to on the tv as a commentator.....Remember Geoff bycott being being hired as a consultant? When did boycott ever do any coaching....

Now since i chose to reply, where are you pulling out this 1000 number from? Sir, i played club cricket, and i would repeat that i can need only one hand to count number of bonafide clubs in lahore, in fact i would say that this was the case even in 90s and late 80s when in lahore clubs were producing proper FC and international stars.

As for you the saeed anwar bit, i like the joke, you picked one example and used it for broad generalization. What about the steady pipeline of proper internationals our FC system produced in 80s and 90s?

Now 4th para, again you don't know what you are talking about. Fazal mehmood played amateur league in late 50s, he was a matte wicket giant and thats about it, Kardar did play 2-3 seasons of county but kardar's contribution is a myth, khan mohammad, did he even play county cricket? Rest of the para makes funny reading and to me its just a big rant on brown hating not being good for anything?

 

[ElRaja]

think this could have the potential to be great if enacted properly, should have a rookie rule where one person in the first xi has to in their rookie first class season, so you have at least 6 young cricketers and you don't have old men age fudging to get into an under 19 slot.

No I'm not - the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1989 to 1998 had 8-10 teams. You can have a look yourself on the archives.

https://www.pcb.com.pk/quaideazam-trophy-199293/points-table/365.html

It's no coincidence these were some of our best cricketing years, and that we went downhill once Rameez Raja and his successors expanded the QEA Trophy to 18-24 teams after 2002.

By reducing the number of FC teams you increase the competitiveness and intensity of cricket.

Also why are critics making out as if only 6 teams will be playing cricket in Pakistan ? Along with this setup you'l have 2nd XI teams for each region, and a large Inter City competition that'll feed into the regions.

I completely agree on pitches. Substandard durfaces will render this new tournament pointless, but Wasim Khan has mentioned it as a priority.

didnt they run the patrons trophy in that era?

https://www.pcb.com.pk/bccp-patrons-trophy-199293/points-table/373.html

so thats about 16 odd first class teams still

 

[sunnykhan]

I'm not quite hopeful with this new structure.

 

[Syed1]

I'm not quite hopeful with this new structure.

It's good system, it would mean unfit, talentless hacks like Shahzaib Hasan will fade away rather than hogging a spot.

 

[AdamM97]

It's good system, it would mean unfit, talentless hacks like Shahzaib Hasan will fade away rather than hogging a spot.

Knowing that this is Pakistan, i won’t be surprised if hacks with connections still end up playing in this new system.

 

[Fantasy]

One question

Why India is doing so well despite having so many FC teams?

India has a population of about 1.32 Billion according to wikipedia. There are 37 teams that play the Ranji trophy. Now if you compare that to Pakistani population of about 20 crore there should be 5.6 teams playing in Pakistan’s QeA trophy! You are getting a hike with having 6 teams not the reduction.

There are so many things that are wrong on so many levels that people have no idea about. That is for other day.

Just hope you get the answer and I hope it answers a lot of question as India has so many teams but still they are producing quality. They have to cater to their population. Period.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

It’s harder to pick sifarish ttf’s from 6 regions than it is to pick from 20 odd. But yes to get in the first 12 of a region is a different matter. But I think the psl is a good template.

PSL has not given us a single technically equipped batsman in its entire existence.