Cricket format needs change

I would like to begin this column on a personal note and to remember a senior cricket writer, Sultan F. Hussain who died at a ripe old age a few days ago. He was a good friend of mine but that is not reason enough to pay him a public tribute. Sultan F. Hussain belonged to the old school, believed in certain values and wrote with conviction but not with anger though he may have felt strongly about the issues. He was a soft-spoken man who never raised his voice and his columns were without passion but made all the more sense for that reason.

I looked forward to meeting him whenever I went to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore where he sat quietly in the press-box, minding his business which was to cover cricket. The demands of modern media, the search for angles, seizing on half-truths and revelling in controversies, he spurned all this. I have already conveyed my sympathies to his family. These few words are to do so publicly. He was a decent man and that is high praise in these times.

The choice of Dr Zafar Altaf as chairman of the PCB Ad Hoc Committee is a good one. He has the necessary qualifications. He has been a first class cricketer and has had plenty of administrative experience. I first got to know him when he was a member of the Pakistan team that toured India in 1960-61. He was a junior member of the team and thus did not attract much attention other than as a cheerful and well-behaved player. I really got to know him when he was the Associate Manager of the Pakistan team that toured England in 1974. I was the Manager. We made an excellent team and I left the nitty-gritty of the tour to him and I concentrated on the speech-making duties and dealing with media. Not once were there any differences between us, we were on the same wave-length and it was a happy tour and a successful one. Minor disciplinary problems were dealt by us firmly but not with severity so that we were able to enforce discipline without striking terror in the ranks. Zafar knew that I valued his advice and he was forthcoming with it. Thus we had team-work on and off the field.

It is this concept of team-work that I would like to see in the PCB. Individuals are not of primary concern. It is how they interact that will bring results. I would imagine that his first task will be, or should be, to settle the match-fixing business once and for all, to exorcise the ghost that has been haunting Pakistan cricket. We must rid Pakistan cricket of the uncertainty that has caused so much distress to the team as a whole and which has damaged the image of Pakistan cricket immeasurably. The team must be allowed to play without a sword of Damocles hanging over them. I do not, for a moment, suggest that we should sweep everything under the carpet. But we should act decisively. These allegations will keep cropping up whenever the team loses. That is why the air should be cleared.

I think too that the Constitution of the PCB should be looked at anew. There should really be no need for Ad Hoc Committees. They have proved to be exercises in futility and they have, as a rule, not addressed the long-term needs of cricket which have been neglected. One of these needs is a proper framework for domestic cricket. At present it is a hotch-potch of city teams, commercial institutions and semi-autonomous government bodies and even business houses! No one really takes domestic cricket seriously and although lip-service is paid to performance in this kind of cricket as a stepping-stone to playing for the national team, most, if not all the great Pakistan cricketers have not been products of domestic cricket. It can truthfully be said that Pakistan cricket has prospered in spite of it. I think there is a need to examine a format of regional cricket, perhaps allowing the seemingly weaker regions to "import" a certain number of players from other parts of the country and play as professionals. After all, English countries allow foreign players. Domestic cricket will flourish if there are rivalries and loyalties. At present not even the employees of Habib Bank and PIA, for example, feel any kind of allegiance to their team and they certainly do not turn up to watch them play. There is the employment factor but there is no reason why we cannot have tournaments involving these organisations. The main domestic tournament should be between regional teams.

But it is not enough to have new format. There has to be a certain infrastructure development. The Gaddafi and National Stadium have seen a lot of money invested in them. This may be because they are the properties of the PCB. In my view, the installation of flood-lights is a waste of money. They are the equivalent of having palatial terminal buildings at airports at the expense of proper runways and navigation aids. The PCB could have been helpful in assisting smaller towns to have decent playing facilities. That way, the game would have benefited and it is the primary responsibility of the PCB to promote cricket.

The Pakistan team itself appears to be settled but it should be apparent that there is a problem with the batting. Perhaps, too much one-day cricket. But it looks as if the cupboard is bare and there is a need to do something about it. I would like to see this problem addressed. A batting coaching camp with someone like Geoff Boycott in charge. Boycott has the advantage of bringing an open mind. If we can appoint Pybus as the coach, I see no reason why we can't call on the services of one of the best minds in the game