Shahryar Khan meets Misbah, Inzamam & Mudassar to consider alternate home venues as UAE too costly

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Shahryar Khan meets Misbah, Inzamam & Mudassar to consider alternate home venues as UAE too costly

With UAE venues getting costly, PCB considers other options

LAHORE: With the cost of regular venues in the UAE constantly shooting up, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday considered different countries as new neutral venues to host its home series.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan met Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, NCA Director Academies Mudassar Nazar and NCA spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmad on Friday to discuss the said matter.

“Yes, I held a joint marathon meeting with Misbah, Inzamam, Mudassar and others on Friday to reconsider neutral venues for the Pakistan home series as the cost of the UAE venues is too much,” Shaharyar told Dawn.

“Different useful proposals came up during the meeting and many attendants were in favour of Sri Lanka as new venue with many endorsing Bangladesh while others favoured South Africa and England as well as new neutral venues. These proposals will be discussed further to take a final decision in near future,” the PCB chairman said.

He said though many were against the proposal of selecting England as a neutral venue because the country had very short period of cricket season, still that country would be discussed further.

He said grounds in Bangladesh were good and the stadiums there also had the potential to attract a large number of fans to come and see the matches which was not the situation in the UAE, especially in Test cricket.

Shaharyar said the meeting also discussed the standard of grounds and stadiums in the country and it was decided to renovate all the nine stadiums which were in control of the PCB.

It was also necessary, he said, to upgrade those nine stadiums because international events could be played in Pakistan any time, considering improvement in law and order situation.

He said many stadiums under the control of the PCB were not in good condition to host matches and there was a need to upgrade those as soon as possible.

He said those nine grounds were also not in good shape due to hosting of a good number of first-class and U-19 matches, adding that a system would be developed to hold less number of U-19 matches in big stadiums.

Shaharyar further said that the meeting noted with disappointment that many players of Pakistan ‘A’ team which recently toured Zimbabwe were not fully fit.

“Though the Pakistan ‘A’ played well in Zimbabwe and won matches, most of the players of the ‘A’ team failed to meet set fitness standards and that was a worrying area,” he maintained.

The chairman said that both Misbah and Inzamam were quite concerned about the poor fitness level of the players while stating that Mudassar had been asked to prepare a comprehensive programme at the regional level to improve the fitness of players.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1298620/with-uae-venues-getting-costly-pcb-considers-other-options
 
What about Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Morocco, Saudi and Qatar? All these places have very good desi population and have experience of hosting international cricket.
 
Playing in Bangladesh wouldn't be a bad idea. They're preparing some really good pitches these days. I'd love it if our home games came to England though!
 
Given that Misbah has said that being away from home is taking a toll on families etc, I would suggest something within the 2-3 hr flight time range.
 
Just a suggestion but why not just tour in the off season and have all test players available for the domestic season. If the cost of playing neutral matches makes it unprofitable then perhaps just touring for a couple of years and boost the domestic season by having the test players at home.
 
Playing in Bangladesh wouldn't be a bad idea. They're preparing some really good pitches these days. I'd love it if our home games came to England though!

Don't think so. It will get most audience comparing other venues but I don't think bangladesh board or present govt would be interested in that.

SL would be better as limited cost ,though I would have doubt about Audience presents.
 
Which 9 grounds are owned by PCB?

NSK, Lahore (Gaddafi), Multan, Faisalabad (Iqbal), Peshawar (Niaz), Rawalpindi, Islamabad (Diamond), Sialkot & Hyderabad?

Along with BD, SRL & UK; PCB should think of Toronto as well, if they can bargain a tax leverage from Ontario Govt.. SRL & BD are far better options than UAE, but our season already is extremely packed - may be PCB can use shift the FEB Home Series in BD & make it 3 Test Series. Not sure why Misbah should have any say for an event, he is most likely not be part of - PAK's next home series is FEB (BD), which Misbah might not play. Using venue is a commercial decision, more than cricket - not sure how much those people can contribute. Rather, a long term professional in Sales/Marketing can be haired as a project Manager.

Fitness won't improve unless FC system demands that - no point discussing.
 
Which 9 grounds are owned by PCB?

NSK, Lahore (Gaddafi), Multan, Faisalabad (Iqbal), Peshawar (Niaz), Rawalpindi, Islamabad (Diamond), Sialkot & Hyderabad?

Along with BD, SRL & UK; PCB should think of Toronto as well, if they can bargain a tax leverage from Ontario Govt.. SRL & BD are far better options than UAE, but our season already is extremely packed - may be PCB can use shift the FEB Home Series in BD & make it 3 Test Series. Not sure why Misbah should have any say for an event, he is most likely not be part of - PAK's next home series is FEB (BD), which Misbah might not play. Using venue is a commercial decision, more than cricket - not sure how much those people can contribute. Rather, a long term professional in Sales/Marketing can be haired as a project Manager.

Fitness won't improve unless FC system demands that - no point discussing.

Do you think bd as home venue of Pak is feasible in current situation (political,board,bd cricket seasons,venue,domestic,bpl and others) ????
 
Given that Misbah has said that being away from home is taking a toll on families etc, I would suggest something within the 2-3 hr flight time range.

most of the proposed or non proposed countries(hk,Malaysia,Singapore) are at least 5 hr air distance. Only bd or sl would fit that criteria. And misbah pointed valuable point as they are human being and have family.
 
The Emiratis should give us a discount, they don't value loyal customers

I agree. Those stadiums only get traffic because of the international tag

Also inability of earlier Pak admins to negotiate a partnership deal which would have seen them endorse UAE grounds for a cut in all cricket played there etc
 
Do you think bd as home venue of Pak is feasible in current situation (political,board,bd cricket seasons,venue,domestic,bpl and others) ????

Why not - money talks. Politicians 'll do their job, which is fooling people. I can name at least 4 Awami League ministers doing good business with PAK counterparts.

It's no issue, if the deal is good - Papon himself is more than interested. But, it has to start with PAK-BD series; otherwise media'll take advantage & BNP might make a political issue. Fans will be more than happy to watch cricket.
 
I agree. Those stadiums only get traffic because of the international tag

Also inability of earlier Pak admins to negotiate a partnership deal which would have seen them endorse UAE grounds for a cut in all cricket played there etc

We should also stop Pakistani cricketers from repping the UAE team, no more Amjad Javed for them :afridi
 
most of the proposed or non proposed countries(hk,Malaysia,Singapore) are at least 5 hr air distance. Only bd or sl would fit that criteria. And misbah pointed valuable point as they are human being and have family.

Don't think there is a direct flight from Bangladesh to Pakistan anymore. As Hasina is in power, Pakistan have to fly to Dubai or Abu Dhabi and come to Bangladesh :facepalm:
 
i think they are suffering on duties stamped on the board for the logistics...

other than that upon tickets, travelling time UAE is the best among the options discussed as suggested in OP..
 
It's time to hold matches in Pakistan, come what may. If the International teams don't want to visit, then so be it. We should continue playing domestic cricket, and only play away International cricket, till International cricket arrives.
 
Just a suggestion but why not just tour in the off season and have all test players available for the domestic season. If the cost of playing neutral matches makes it unprofitable then perhaps just touring for a couple of years and boost the domestic season by having the test players at home.

From a purely cricketing view that would make sense but they would lose money not hosting series
 
Playing in the UAE is the only solution. Playing in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will attract worse crowds and playing in England and South Africa will kill our home advantage.

We have no option but to meet their demands and hope that they lower theirs.
. .
 
It's time to hold matches in Pakistan, come what may. If the International teams don't want to visit, then so be it. We should continue playing domestic cricket, and only play away International cricket, till International cricket arrives.
= no TV rights to sell = extinction
 
Just a suggestion but why not just tour in the off season and have all test players available for the domestic season. If the cost of playing neutral matches makes it unprofitable then perhaps just touring for a couple of years and boost the domestic season by having the test players at home.
So basically don't play a home series at all? Then the revenues will decline even more. The best solution is to play home series in Pakistan.
 
Playing in the UAE is the only solution. Playing in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will attract worse crowds and playing in England and South Africa will kill our home advantage.

We have no option but to meet their demands and hope that they lower theirs.
. .

We need to play in more challenging conditions so that there isn't such a discrepancy between home and away performances. I would go with England.
 
Imo the best options are Bangladesh, Pakistan and maybe even Hong Kong.
 
Pak should develop the stadium in Azad Kashmir. That is a very safe area of Pak.
 
What about Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Morocco, Saudi and Qatar? All these places have very good desi population and have experience of hosting international cricket.

Imo the best options are Bangladesh, Pakistan and maybe even Hong Kong.

Hong Kong doesn't have a lot of desi population in terms of numbers. UAE, UK, Canada, US outnumber HK easily.

Also HK is a costly place. Not sure arranging test matches will be feasible here.
 
Hong Kong doesn't have a lot of desi population in terms of numbers. UAE, UK, Canada, US outnumber HK easily.

Also HK is a costly place. Not sure arranging test matches will be feasible here.

Those places are too far though. HK is pretty close like 3 hours.
 
Playing in the UAE is the only solution. Playing in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will attract worse crowds and playing in England and South Africa will kill our home advantage.

We have no option but to meet their demands and hope that they lower theirs.
. .

Pakistan can prepare dust bowls in England and South Africa
 
Why not Pak build 1 or 2 stadium in Nepal and make it home. In this way they can help Nepal team too. All will be sorted with low price.
 
Pakistan can prepare dust bowls in England and South Africa

Not easy to do prepare dust bowls in England because of the overhead conditions, especially in early summer. In addition, if we don't have authority over UAE pitches when UAE cricket is irrelevant without us, how can we expect to control the pitches in England and South Africa?

England playa two series during their summer, so we will only have a window of 2-3 Tests, just like we hosted Australia in England in 2010 right after England hosted Bangladesh in May and then we played England in August.

Besides, the County Championship is from April to September. We will not be allowed to influence the pitches when the County teams will be playing on the same surfaces.

Same goes for the Sunfoil Series that lasts from December to April in South Africa, and South Africa themselves play at home from January to March.

When will we host teams during this period, how many matches will we be able to play and how will we be allowed to influence the pitches when their First-Class competition would be going on?

Keeping all of these factors in mind, it is simply not practical to play our home matches in England and South Africa year after year.

UAE is the most viable venue because of the conditions, time difference, expat population and most importantly, the fact that UAE does not have any First-Class competition that can conflict with our series.
 
I think PCB should look into Malaysia for long term. Malaysia has two or three ground pcb can upgrade them and make international level stadiums, malaysia is much more cheaper !
 
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