Inter-Academy Cricket League from Saturday

KARACHI: Six of the leading academies of the country will be taking part in the second edition of the NBP Inter-Academy Cricket League 2015, being organised by the Customs Cricket Academy (CCA), which gets underway here on Saturday.
The details about the event, to be spread over six weeks, were unveiled by Jalaluddin, a former Test fast bowler and Head Coach of the CCA, in a media briefing here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday.
CCA will be taking on NBP Cricket Academy in the opening match of the tournament at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton.
The academies of Moin Khan, Rashid Latif, PIA and UBL will be the other participating teams.
The first edition was held in 2010.
“It’s going to be an under-19 tournament and the cricketers, born on or after January 10, 1997, will be eligible to take part. Only those players registered with the academy can play. All the participating academies have submitted their 20-member squads to the organising committee,” Jalaluddin said.
“Although the tournament will be having limited-overs games with each team to play a maximum of 40 overs, they will have the flavour of four-day matches as a second new ball will be available after 30 overs,” Jalaluddin said.
“The idea behind reviving the event is to improve the quality of cricket at the grassroots level. Although the tournament is being organised after a gap of five years, every effort will be made to hold it annually from now on,” he said.
Khalil Masood, one of the founders of the CCA and a former chairman of the Corporate Law Authority, expressed his delight with the continuing growth of the academy which was established in 1999.
Nadeem Omar, Omar Associates Managing Director, emphasised the significance of grooming young talent and providing it the best possible facilities.
Javed Mansha of PIA said his organisation would continue to promote sports.
Owais Asad Khan, head of the Sports & CSR Division of NBP, vowed to continue supporting sports.