The PCB is neglecting youth cricket

Pakistan's domestic cricket calender for 2009-10 is flawed because it doesn't pay much attention to youth cricket and the sport in the country will only take a backward step. One such example is the scrapping of the inter-region under-19 three-day tournament which has benefited so many youngsters in the past, writes Gulbaz Aafaqi in the Daily Times.

Yet another great miss is PCB Hunt for Heroes Programme. This programme benefited young boys of under-16 age during the last couple of years throughout Pakistan. The selected boys were trained at district level by PCB qualified coaches for a week and the best of them would play inter-region one-day tournament. Our current under-19 three players, Babar Azam, Usman Qadir and Faraz Ali are product of this programme and they are good prospects. This programme has been scrapped although the agreement was valid for the current year.