Wasim to coach youngsters

Six cricket clinics to train youngsters in two agegroups are being established at six major cities of the country. The first group of boys to be chosen for the clinics will be between the ages of 10-13 and the second between the ages of 14-16.

For setting-up the clinics, a contract was signed Wednesday here between former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, who will be heading the group of Test stars engaged as coaches, and a multi-national softdrink company. Wasim will be assisted by Test cricketers Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Sami and Imran Farhat.

The open trials to select the boys will be held at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) ground, Sunday (Aug 5) at 9.00am. Besides Lahore, the same exercise will also be held at Karachi, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Peshawar. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), as in the past, will again be co-operating with the sponsor company in making the clinics a success. The PCB coaches will be scouting talent while the clinics will be in progress.

After selecting boys, clinics will be run for six weeks. At the end of training on Sept 18, talented cricketers will be short-listed at each of the six cities to form 16-member teams. Matches will be organised among the teams of each centre. Speaking on the occasion, Wasim Akram said that Pakistan was blessed with abundant talent that the boys participating in these clinics would have the advantage of learning from our experience.