New cricket structure in the melting pot (16 August 1999)

16 August 1999

New cricket structure in the melting pot

Lateef Jafri

Much in accord with the concept of the newly-installed chairman of the ad hoc committee, Mr. Mujeebur Rahman has expanded the main panel in a month's time to aid and assist him in his cricket projects.

The team manager too has been named and as the cricket season is fast approaching a three-member selection committee, with Col Naushad Ali, former Test wicketkeeper and opening batsman, has been given the task of preparing, honing and choosing the national team to face the international challenge in the Test against Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies, the one-dayers in Sharjah and Oceania and maybe against India in Toronto if the political and sponsorship doubts are removed. Similarly a plethora of panels and sub-committees has been set up for the devolution of the work at the headquarters and other sporting centres and now a coach has also been engaged.

One notes that among the priorities of the cricket chief, as mentioned in his first Press Conference In Lahore, the promotion of the game at the grass-root level is placed high. The schools, colleges and universities will be the main sources for the discovery of talented youngsters." Catch'em young" is an old and acknowledge principle for sports in general, cricket included. It was in the fifties that cricket fans thronged the grounds in Karachi to see school duels of the Rubie Shield. Alas! some of the playing-fields have been turned into rendezvous for narcotic addicts, some like the KPI, Bohri Gymkhana and Nishtar Park need repair and investment for proper maintenance. There were also the venues of the Sindh Madressah and St Patrick's where Hanif Mohammad, Munaf, Ikram Elahi, Anwar Elahi, Wallis Mathias, Khalid Wazir and Antao d'Souza thrilled the crowds with their cricketing exploits. The Rubie Shield has vanished into thin air. If at all a centralised tournament under the aegis of the cricket board is launched numberless cricketers with plenty of potential may be found out for further polishing their skills and styles.

The stars of yore viz Hafeez Kardar, Fazal Mahmood, Nazar Mohammad, Imtiaz, Maqsood, Khan Mohammad, Gul Mohammad and Waqar Hasan, to name only a few, were the products of the university. Similarly in India K.C. Ibrahim, Polly Umrigar, Rusi Modi, Punkaj Roy, P. Sen, Ghulam Ahmad, M.L. Apte, Vijay Manjrekar came to fore via the Rohinton Baria Trophy launched as long ago as 1935. If the board goes ahead with an inter-university contest in right earnest certainly the country will never be short of front rank players - batsmen, bowlers and wicketkeepers.

If at all emphasis is to be put on systematic progress and growth of cricket starting from the lowest rung of the ladder, regular training and practice have to be organised at the schools and latterly at a higher stage at the universities, where in co-operation with the UGC (University Grant Commission) the coaching job can be extended throughout the country in a proper method and manner, especially wherever the institutions of high learning and technologies are located.

A cricket academy may lead to a divergence of ideas with the accent on the schools' programme. Why should an academy be at one place? It will lead to bickerings with the game's organisers at other centres. Then both the north and south will start claiming their rights. The funds may also go down the drain on the trainers' stipends and allowances. The overseeing official will have his own pound of flesh - and a weighty one.

What is the guarantee that the academy may turn out skilled players who may join up with the national set to measure strength with the pick of the world. The coaches may have different ideas which may do more harm than good to the players. Besides, the selectees to the academy be may not join the training process on merit; there may be a large number of relations of the elitist group. The recommendees may make the academy a centre of recreation than a place for raising and grooming a pack of future first-class cricketers who may be in line to do real national service.

One expects the selection committee to organise its camp as early as possible for the heavy cricket schedule of the coming season. As the cheif selector said the main objective of the camp will be to get players ready for the confrontations in Australia. The Sharjah matches cannot be taken lightly as also the ties in Toronto.

However, many observers are of the opinion that the load of work will be too heavy on Col Naushad. As an adviser to the ad hoc committee chairman he is supposed to be available for consultations at the Qadhafi Stadium. He is also to look after Redco clubs and one can expect him to expand the activities of the clubs. Then to find out the real qualities of the probables he will have to hop from one venue and city to the other. Col Naushad is also an ICC referee. Can he do justice to so many onerous responsibilities, some of the fans may like to know?

The reasons behind the change in the format of the home competitions are not known. The lumping together of the associations and the departments in the main national championship, the Quaid-i-Trophy, is a major reversal from the earlier yearly programme, in which the cities were supposed to contest for cricket supremacy and try to bag the most prized honour of the game in the country. The departmental teams were to show their potential and strength in an altogether separate trophy. The names of the competitions had been amended and switched on the demand of some former cricketers, including ex-captain Imran Khan, who wanted the commercial organisations to be struck out of the domestic cricket engagements. However, since they were the employment bureaux for the players and many of them were also the sponsors of the contests they were bunched together in a different category and separate competitive arrangements were made for them.

At last week's meeting of the DTMC (Domestic Tournament Monitoring Committee) at the Qadhafi Stadium only one technocrat, Iqbal Qasim, a reputed Test bowler, was present in his capacity as a member of the panel. It is not known what were his views on the alteration of the system of the tournaments. It can be guessed that there was no dissenting voice on the issue. It can be assumed that it will be uneven and imbalanced duels between the Goliaths, having star-studded players, and the midgets in the associations. The probable victors may be determined before the kickup of the venture. If at all the battles are going to be one-sides who will go to witness such matches. Perhaps the towns and cities, having their grounds and stadia, will be shunted out of the cricket arenas. Will the young cricketers still be found out and in large numbers - to help the country in international settings?

The principal idea behind a separate competition for the departments was to provide jobs to the players. A secure future would have given them peace of mind to play devotedly for the country, when selected. If the associations fail to survive in the initial rounds why should the multinationals invite them to serve their organisations? The new shape of the tournaments can hardly be taken as beneficial to the country. Already the Ad hoc committee bent on taking stern action against some players "to cleanse the mess" in cricket. The new arrangement of competitions may fearfully break the back of the game in the country.

The departments, in accord with the undertaking given by them to the board some years ago, were to provide grounds for their teams. Have they done so, except for a few e.g. the UBL, NBP and a dilapidated and ill-maintained field of the railways. Then why should they pin down and get the better of the towns and cities in domestic contests. The plan may be the brainchild of somebody, but it is meet that it should be struck down in the initial stage in the interest of cricket and young cricketers in the country.

There are many other flaws in the proposals, given assent to by the DTMC, but the above points of principle have only been mentioned and discussed in this piece so that a reversal of the plans to be launched from the new season is made and domestic cricket is saved from an impending disaster.

Source :: The Dawn (www.dawn.com)