Time to PURGE Pakistan's domestic cricket teams of the freeloaders

[Markhor]

The latest fiasco in Pakistan cricket, once again at the hands of India with a dismal defeat in the Emerging Players Cup is another reminder of Pakistan domestic cricket's inability to produce international-ready talent. We can point to a lack of home internationals, poor selections, tactical errors but this is a sideshow to the fact our Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is barely above club standard featuring players who should NOT play First Class Cricket. I am going to pull up two random scorecards from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to serve as a sample in highlighting the appalling standards. I am aware international duty and A team series has weakened the teams somewhat but this is meant to be the next batch of talent. This was eye-opening even for a long-time domestic cricket critic like me:

1) Lahore Blues vs WAPDA (Nov 19-22 2018)

Lahore Blues XI:

Zubair Malik, Mohammad Ilyas, Zafar Gohar, Irfan Haider, Saad Nasim, Ahmed Akram, Farhan Khan, Bilawal Iqbal, Zia Shehzad, Asfand Mehran, Aizaz Cheema.

Zafar Gohar is batting at 3 here which tells you everything. Not a SINGLE batsman averaging above 30. The top six have 148 FC matches between them - but Zafar Gohar and Saad Nasim account for 113 of them. I'd keep only Zafar Gohar from this rabble on a FC contract. I appreciate Aizaz Cheema is still taking wickets but how does a 38 year old seamer help Pakistan cricket's future ? Not even a club level side.

WAPDA XI:

Zahid Mansoor, Bismillah Khan, Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Saleem, Salman Butt (c), Abubakar Khan, Ali Shan, Khalid Usman, Zulfiqar Babar, Sadaif Mehdi, Waqar Malik.

Absolute garbage. Zahid Mansoor is 28 years old and has played 89 FC matches and still averages 28. Bismillah Khan is being played as a specialist opener and averages 25. Muhammad Akhlaq has played 17 matches and averages 26 with not a single hundred. Mohammad Saleem is 40 YEARS OLD and averages 26 after 22 matches - so much for the sainted Departments that are more meritocratic than the Regions. Salman Butt is your best player though doesn't open himself. Abubakar Khan is handling the 2nd new ball at 6 with his mighty average of 21. The bowling is carried by Uncle Zulf and an ageing Khalid Usman. Only Butt, Zulf and Usman merit FC contracts from this sorry bunch, but Butt shouldn't be captaining for obvious reasons.

2) Habib Bank Limited vs National Bank Pakistan (Oct 19-22 2018)

HBL XI: Mohammad Waqas, Jamal Anwar, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Rameez Aziz, Zohaib Khan, Saad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Khurram Shehzad.

Bowling is okay but only Farhat and Akmal are batsmen of any calibre in this team, along with the absent Abid Ali. Not encouraging given this is meant to be the side that goes on to WIN the Trophy.

NBP XI: Ali Asad, Ahsan Ali, Rameez Raja, Kamran Ghulam, Naved Sarwar, Umar Siddiq, Qaiser Abbas, Hammad Azam, Ataullah, Ali Manzoor, Atif Jabbar.

Apart from Ali Manzoor with a FC bowling avg of 38, the bowling is okay but given the standard of batting how seriously can you take their numbers ? Ahsan Ali was another member of PP hype brigade who has done nothing of note in FC cricket. Two decent all-rounders in Kamran Ghulam and Hammad Azam, but what does it say about your specialist batsmen when Ghulam is your highest averaging batter ? From this XI, I'd probably keep five but overall barely a Division Two County side.

That's just two examples. Seriously, here's a task for posters. Go pull up ANY scorecard from this season and have a look at some of these lineups and go one by one - have a look at the numbers of these players and ask yourselves THIS is our First Class cricket ? This is the next step below Test cricket ?

It's time to move to eight regional teams and make QEA Trophy matches of near Test match intensity as they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Reduce the playing pool by 50% - most of this lot should NOT have FC contracts. Enough of this guff about "providing a living for players" - Pakistan Cricket is NOT a Welfare State. If you aren't good enough - tough luck. Go back to school and get another job to make a living, and stop leeching off our cricket. Pakistan may be a country of 200m but only 11 can play - if you want that green cap you EARN it with the FC cricket serving as a harsh filter. Only then will we improve our rankings.

 

[Savak]

Could not have said it better

 

[Rana]

Useless jokers! and they want to suck money and chances away from deserving players wherever they can

 

[Perth93]

POTW. Superb.
I've been following Pak cricket for near two decades now, and yet I'm surprised at the level of chacha-bhateeja games that are still allowed to happen.

For a start, how can annual contracts be given to 44 players? It's like giving away 43 second prizes.

 

[the Great Khan]

Totally agree. They need to make the Quaid e azam the ultimate domestic cricket challenge for a pakistani cricketer. But thats not enough. They need to look at whats happened to club cricket. It has wilted. We need to look at schools and university cricket too.

Heres how I think (and everyone can add or correct me here) we should structure the domestic setup

Tier 1: Quaid e azam trophy.
regional sides:
Sindh
Balochistan
KPK
Punjab North
Punjab South
Federal (include GB and Islu)
Kashmir

Play a full season home and away . Make batting pitches with the pitch turning on day 4-5.
standardise the ball.

Select the best of the best in this comp. No journey men.

Tier 2:
Division 2 will be second teams tournament. No promotion and teams will be encouraged to play young emerging talent rather than journey men

Tier 3:
Club cricket. Organised into districts with a conference style system. Best clubs play play offs and final to be televised on free to air tv.

Tier 4:
University cricket

Tier 5:
All Pakistan Schools tournament.
Organise via conference system and playoffs.

what do you guys think? lets modify and share ideas here.

 

[Kashmirilion]

Potw bro well done!

 

[Savak]

Wish someone can send this to Ehsan Mani, Waseem Khan and request the advocates of dept Cricket ie Aamir Sohail, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir and Co to respond here

 

[Bewal Express]

Nothing will change. The PCB is run for the benefit of the mediocre administrators and players, not for the promotion of cricket in PK.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I agree. Too many rubbish players who are bringing down the standard of our domestic scene. Hopefully we can get rid of some of them once number of teams is cut down.

 

[Saj]

Very good OP.

The problem is Pakistan domestic cricket is a jobs for the boys network where coaches, senior players and officials just look after each other.

 

[Slog]

So just because he is old Aizaz Cheema who is still taking wickets and outperforming youngsters should be deprived of an honest living?

 

[Savak]

So just because he is old Aizaz Cheema who is still taking wickets and outperforming youngsters should be deprived of an honest living?

He is not going to play for Pakistan again, he is getting on a bit, we know the quality of domestic wickets and how the likes of Asad Ali, Aizaz Cheema, Ehsan Adil look pedestrian and mediocre whenever they play in international cricket. Better to give the spot to a youngster who can offer something to the future. Aizaz Cheema can ply his trade elsewhere, he knows that life after cricket is a reality and he should have worked out a post cricket life program by now.

 

[Slog]

He is not going to play for Pakistan again, he is getting on a bit, we know the quality of domestic wickets and how the likes of Asad Ali, Aizaz Cheema, Ehsan Adil look pedestrian and mediocre whenever they play in international cricket. Better to give the spot to a youngster who can offer something to the future. Aizaz Cheema can ply his trade elsewhere, he knows that life after cricket is a reality and he should have worked out a post cricket life program by now.

I dont agree with this.

Theres enough mediocre youngsters going around in domestic cricket that theres no shortage of spots. Our structure is bloated so the last thing we should be doing is kicking out players who actually up the level of cricket at domestic level.

Theres quite a few oldies who fit that mold Markhor is alluding to since they are basically non-performing pensioners basically, but Aizaz Cheema is one of those who actually tests young batsmen and makes them better

 

[Savak]

I dont agree with this.

Theres enough mediocre youngsters going around in domestic cricket that theres no shortage of spots. Our structure is bloated so the last thing we should be doing is kicking out players who actually up the level of cricket at domestic level.

Theres quite a few oldies who fit that mold Markhor is alluding to since they are basically non-performing pensioners basically, but Aizaz Cheema is one of those who actually tests young batsmen and makes them better

This defies logic, if Aizaz Cheema was so good, he would never have been dropped from the national team. Players who were quality like Ajmal carried on playing for Pakistan well into their late 30's. Cheema got axed which means he is not as good as his domestic stats. India is purging their national and domestic side of players in their early 30's and these players now call it a day much earlier than past players knowing full well they will never play for India again and that the older generation is making way for the new generation.

Could you imagine in Pakistan that the likes of Harbhajan, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Laxman would be let go off in their early 30's? Misbah is still playing at 45, how does his involvement as a player in our domestic cricket benefit anyone? Would it not be better for him to make way for a youngster instead?

 

[The Viper]

Truly embarrassing domestic structure. A real shame what the likes of Shakeel Sheikh are doing.

 

[The Viper]

I dont agree with this.

Theres enough mediocre youngsters going around in domestic cricket that theres no shortage of spots. Our structure is bloated so the last thing we should be doing is kicking out players who actually up the level of cricket at domestic level.

Theres quite a few oldies who fit that mold Markhor is alluding to since they are basically non-performing pensioners basically, but Aizaz Cheema is one of those who actually tests young batsmen and makes them better

Definitely. Guys like Cheema can remain but others with 20 batting averages as batting need to go.

 

[Abdullah719]

You can't simply kick out old players even if they are performing and I don't think that's what [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION] is asking for, anyway.

What is needed is to uplift the standards of domestic cricket (in short: better pitches, more teams) with meritocracy in selections.

 

[Abdullah719]

Opening the batting for Islamabad in the National T20 Cup today

 

[Markhor]

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

 

[CricketDon]

Start by purging the 40 year old former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. Rest will follow suit.

 

[DRsohail]

View attachment 86482

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

We are going to be worst than WI as their bats and bowlers at elast have those muscles....agreed ,,,Regions have been too complacent and been carrying these garbages for years.

 

[The Viper]

View attachment 86482

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

Disgusting stuff. Mani and Waseem Khan have a tough job ahead.

 

[Abdullah719]

View attachment 86482

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

Looks like a CI error in this case. Mohammad Saleem is listed as an 18/19 year old on the PCB website. https://www.pcb.com.pk/player-detail.php?action=view_profile&player_id=40821

 

[Hasan123]

View attachment 86482

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

Domestic cricket badly needs revamp. The best playing against the best will help our players deal with pressure and make them more mentally stronger

But this 40 year old batting at 4 doesn't surprise me.

 

[Saj]

I don't mind the older players who are performing well still being given chances. The ones who should be weeded out are the ones who have zero performance but keep getting picked ahead of other more deserving players.

 

[kingusama92]

Quality post.

There's absolutely no need for the number of teams currently seen in Pakistan's domestic setup. Complete waste of money.

 

[gazza619]

Brilliant stuff. Hope the authorities are reading your post. Now we know why there is lack of talent.

I would be interested to see domestic team qualities of the 90s.

 

[Saj]

Wasim Khan's plans will be aimed at quality over quantity in domestic cricket.

This may get rid of some of the freeloaders.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

[MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION]


JazaakAllah for the kind Mention.



Well I mostly agree with what you have said.


Yes I agree with a Model where 8 teams play FC Cricket.


This is Ideal.


But the bigger question is how to make it practical ? Or is it practical ?


For me at present it is not practical which is very unfortunate.


Let's discuss it.


We are going to have 8 Regional teams.


Who will sponsor them ?

Do we have sponsors ?


Sponsors are only interested in T20 Cricket.


What Interests them mainly is PSL and than National T20
That's it.


I have seen this debate countless times where they say departments (departmental cricket) should be disbanded and one department should sponsor and manage one regional team.


The Departments have said Clear No to this suggestion. They demand complete control over Regions and the democratically elected (so called for some) regional bodies object to this.



For this you need a new constitution and complete overhaul of PCB, it's structure and organisation.


Uptil now Ehsan Mani hasn't shown any such intension as Chairman PCB.



We need to have departments on board.


We must not forget what has happened to Hockey in Pakistan. At one time Customs vs PIA hockey match used to be played in jam packed stadium.

With time departmental hockey almost ended. Now majority hockey players do not have the Job and look at where we stand.


Comimg back to Cricket, departments give reasonable pay to players who show some ability. This is how they survive otherwise most of them will give up Cricket. (PSL has been additional help in this regard)


PCB isn't earning enough from PSL at the momemt nor we have Int Cricket at home whereby PCB doesn't need aid of departments to pay domestic Cricketers.


In India since BCCI has money so there domestic players are well paid and you make decent money even if you play domestic Cricket only with No Ipl or Int Cricket.



You should propose overhaul of PCB keeping domestic Cricket as Centre Point.



And I do not see any Commercial entity interested in Sponsoring FC & List A Cricket because with empty stadiums and no live coverage they don't see anything in it to invest money.



Lastly, wrt domestic numbers of some players like Ahsan Ali etc.


I will give you one example of Iyer from India. He has FC Strike Rate of 78 in a reasonable sized Data Set.


The pitches standard and the grace ball we use is not ideal for Stroke makers and players who are free flowing.

Only free flowing player who has been successful in having good Ave is Saud Shakeel where he has found a way of playing sedate cricket and putting up decent numbers. Other than that look at Gauhar Ali for instance. Does he look like a batsman with such low averages ? To be honest he is quite decent enough.


Babar Azam is a prime example of dynamic batsman who struggled to adjust in FC Cricket for a long time.


Babar Azam had played around 20- 25 FC matches when he was selected for Pakistan A to face Australia in UAE. He along with Haris Sohail scored hundred in that friendly tour four day match vs Aus. Until than he had not scrored a FC ton and his average was ~ 25 in FC Cricket than.


Yes ideally Ahsan Ali, Gauhar Ali should have adjusted like Saud but it's hard to curb natural instinct.

Ahsan had some weight n shot selection issues too. Needs to work on these aspects too but him not averaging 40 plus in FC for me has to do with his style of play not suited to Pak wickets and he has been dropped too often aswell.


Ahsan & Babar's FC numbers are comparable at similar stage.


We must improve the standard of our pitches. It's a issue of last two decades. Otherwise we will fail to produce free flowing players aswell as PHAAST bowlers.

 

[ARK Rafay]

Excellent post!

Make top 8 teams and bring the best players up front. Make the tier system for the rest of 'em. Like English County

 

[MMHS]

View attachment 86482

This guy batted at 4 for WAPDA a few weeks ago in the QEA Trophy. Not a small cash strapped region but one of the major departmental teams. For many years we've been told about how the more professional departments are stronger than the regional teams with an access to a better talent pool - that may be true between the 70s-90s but not today.

Even with T20/T10 and international commitments of players - are you telling me WAPDA couldn't have found a better batsman to play at 4 in a country of 200M than a 40 year old with a FC average of 26 ? He doesn't bowl BTW. Where is the accountability ?

But it's not just one player or one department. Every team is carrying half a dozen passengers at least - players who wouldn't even get a grade gig in Australia or club contract in England. It may sound harsh but at least 40% of the playing pool needs to be cut. Some players just aren't good enough for First Class cricket.

The key to Ehsan Mani's proposed eight region league is that you will have better quality control so geezers like Mohammad Saleem, or Zahid Mansoor, Muhammad Akhlaq etc etc are FILTERED out. Otherwise our youngsters will never experience hard, competitive cricket before being exposed to international opponents. If this proposal doesn't get passed - we will be Asian West Indies in 10 years.

[MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=140234]DRsohail[/MENTION] [MENTION=142670]mak36[/MENTION] [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=141114]Hasan123[/MENTION]

When you have almost unlimited resources, you can financially serve the lower tier. Take USA an example - top NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL players earn over $ 20-25mn/years; but the lowest payment slab is also very high, for NBA, the minimum payment for a contracted player is $1.5mn/year + add ons. Their next tier is NCCA, where in the name of Universities/Colleges over 1,000 teams play in 5 major sports (Soccer being 5th), and payment is great as well - for a 18/19 years old 13th grade student average $50-60K/year for 4 years is damn good, top 5-6% of them every year reaches NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL.

Now, if you have resource crisis, only way to survive is to make sure that the top tier is served adequately so that there is a professional class with few selective players who can focus on their game. Therefore, this 8 team model is only way to develop cricket in PAK, where top 150 players will be paid handsomely. But, there needs to be a 2nd tier with at least 10 times more player, which should keep the talent pool coming.

For PAK, first problem is that there is not enough money - you need at least a minimum amount to develop a game like cricket where probably your 80% development costs (read FC cricket) won't earn any return. Only way to earn is from ICC revenue share, T20 leagues, broadcasting rights home series and cascade that money to domestics, clubs and academies.

Second problem is that top tier is too wide - so the quality is poor, and whatever money is there being distributed to too many numbers (players, events, expense heads), eventually none is getting adequate amount; this is without considering corruption, manipulation and wastage - add that, you are taking a 20% or more discount on the budget. After all this, there is nepotism, favoritism ... whatever money is there, not even may be 25% is channeled to proper directions/players.

But, the biggest problem is that the entire ecosystem is manipulated, and there hasn't been any institution developed where system moves on its own. For example, take this 8 teams model, which indeed is the right direction, but what'll happen if still the selective bunch from same faces are roaming around both on & off the field? Still average squad age of 30, still 30 years oldies faking certificate to play U23, may be U19 cricket!! Same people running regional and Corporate teams shift into new model with their favorites - it doesn't matter, name it Rawalpindi Region or Federal Territory unless personal changes.

Sounds too negative, but indeed it's a positive thinking to move into 8 top tier team model - be regional or corporate name hardly matters. But, don't you think that, even in current model of 16 or may be 32 teams, lots of improvements could be done? But it isn't happening and it won't happen unless the person behind changes - Mani has started in right direction, we can only hope that he can finish it.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

Departments (similar to PSL franchise) are independently run organizations and it's their prerogative on which player they play in a given match. I am all up for making the domestics more competitive with good pitches, better facilities and a smaller pool of players but truth be told, some of these senior pros are genuinely in the team because they're part of the department as an employee for decades which categorically means they're not entirely freeloading.

I am not going to write an essay on this but due to some side projects I've recently spoken with many domestics players in Pakistan and none of them seem to have a problem with getting blocked by seniors. Also the bitter truth is that no youngster (apart from many a handful) are lighting up the domestics. Go into the top performer list of the last 5 years and see the age of all the top 10 performers in both batting and bowling - You'll get the answer.

 

[Savak]

Departments are now no longer paying players as highly as they did from the 50's to early 2000's. This is the biggest myth which needs busting.

Players are now given short term contracts and players are also terminated once their careers are over and inter departmental opportunities like running the sports department in that corporation, being a batting coach is very competitive and limited.

Yasir Hameed was called by the management and told that he is now old, he has no realistic chance of playing for Pakistan again and they dont see a future for him in their department team, they can't accommodate him as a coach, player, manager in the department or give him an administrative role in the sports department.

If he wants to, he can start marketing the banks product/services to the public otherwise his services would be terminated. How the heck is this providing any kind of long term security to the players?

To be very honest these departments have spoilt domestic cricketers and unlike cricketers in India, West, they dont bother to study or learn other skills or take up other options which will help them in their post cricketing lives.

 

[Savak]

I wonder where are the die hard supporters of departments?

 

[Saj]

Less freeloaders nowadays, but there are still plenty in the system.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

I think an average domestic cricketer who didn't make up to the national side should earn about 60,000 x 12 months x 30 years in his total playing period, it will be just and fair

 

[Muhammad Saad]

If a person is giving his primary 15-20 years to cricket while giving up his education than he has the right to earn at least 22m PKR in those years which is what a average educated person earns in his 30 years of job/service period.

 

[DRsohail]

Bump after Shakil sheikh recent Announcement om Social media to help him reuniting and bringing department cricket and associations.

 

[the Great Khan]

Bump after Shakil sheikh recent Announcement om Social media to help him reuniting and bringing department cricket and associations.

could you elaborate? I dont follow that individual for obvious reasons so have no idea what he has been saying.

 

[Markhor]

Those scorecards from the old QEA make me sick.

If you're a specialist batsman averaging in the 20s - maybe you should be driving Ubers for a living cos you sure ain't got any business playing First Class cricket.

Thank god Mani and Wasim booted these guys out.