Pakistan U-19 training to start May 19 at regional academies

The Pakistan Cricket Board's six regional academies and two coaching clinics for Under-19 cricketers will start functioning at various centres of the country from May 19, Administrator Academies Col (retd) Muhammad Parvaiz announced Friday. The six-week session will run till June 28 and will be held at Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore), Regional Academy (Karachi), Multan Cricket Stadium, KRL (Rawalpindi), Arbab Niaz Stadium (Peshawar), Jawad Sports Complex (Faisalabad) whereas the coaching clinics will be held at Ayub Stadium (Quetta) and Rani Bagh ground (Hyderabad). The coaching clinics will be day events only and will run between 1630 hours to 1900 hours. The outstation players will have to make their own accommodation arrangements.

Col Parvaiz said he, in consultation with General Manager Cricket Operations Zakir Khan, also finalized a panel of coaches who will impart training to the budding youngsters. "It is a collective effort and every one has contributed in getting the academies for the teenagers start this year. It (academies) is an integral component of PCB Chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia's Vision-2005 programme and to make it a success, the necessary input from everyone associated with the establishment has come," the Administrator Academies said.

Former Test pacer Jalaluddin will be the chief coach at Karachi and he will be assisted by Haris Khan whereas Ali Zia will be the chief coach at Multan with Abdul Majid as his assistant. Shahid Aslam will be the chief coach at Lahore and Azhar Khan will be his deputy while Aaqib Javed will be the chief coach at Faisalabad with Mansoor Rana as his deputy. Naveed Anjum will be the incharge at Rawalpindi and he will be assisted by Sabih Azhar and Taimur Azam will look after the academy in Peshawar with Rizwan Khateeb as his second in-command.

The coaching clinics at Hyderabad and Quetta will be managed by Tasleem Arif and Raj Hans respectively with Hafeezur Rehman and Sagheer Abbas as their deputies.

"These are qualified coaches. Some of them have got training from abroad while few have attended coaches coaching clinics in Pakistan," Zakir Khan said.

In this context, a briefing to the coaches was given at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday where the coaches were explained in detail about the training schedules, weekly programmes, daily routines besides passing on administrative instructions.

The coaches will be paid Rs37,500 for the six-week assignment while each player will get a stipend of Rs3,000.

The regional academies were launched in 2001 where teenagers learnt the basics of the game. The first positive result from this exercise came earlier this year when Pakistan Under-15 won the Asia Cup in United Arab Emirates.

Chairman of Selectors Aamer Sohail said the six-week sessions were being organized to create awareness amongst the youngsters what this game was all about. "It is not about playing big shots and bowling fast. There are different situations and we want to teach the youngsters how to cope in match situations and perform in pressure games.

"This drill will also serve as training camps for the Under-19 Championships. Naturally all the coaches and selectors will monitor the performance of the players in the Championships and will assess if the boys have responded to the time they spent in the academies. Any outstanding player from the Under-19 Championships will certainly be a strong candidate to graduate to the National Cricket Academy."

Over the six weeks in the academies and coaching clinics, the boys will not only undergo physical training or net sessions, they will also attend classes to improve English speaking power, watch videos of Test/ODI matches besides playing 50-over-a-side match every week. Each player's progress report will be prepared on weekly basis. In addition to this, the players will be shown Anti-Corruption Security Unit (ACSC) ICC Videos and will be educated how to avoid corruptors by the ACSC Regional Security Manager Col (retd) Nuruddin Khawaja.

Col Parvaiz said the boys have been selected on the basis of documentary proof of their ages. He, however, warned that any player found to be over-aged through clinical tests would be banned for five years.

The players picked for the academies have been advised to report at their respective centres on Monday at 1000 hours while the boys selected for the coaching clinics are advised to report at 1600 hours.

The names of the players will be released later in the day.

Samiul Hasan
General Manager - Media
Mobile + 92 300 8424 389
May 16, 2003