Abolition of departmental cricket strongly opposed

KARACHI: More than two weeks have passed since the PCB formed a seven-member cricket committee to give proposals for betterment of Pakistan cricket, particularly its domestic affairs. But there has been no meeting of the body so far. The most important decision to be taken is whether the country would keep departmental cricket or say goodbye to it.

The committee comprises Mohsin Khan (who will head the body), Wasim Akram, Misbah-ul-Haq, Director Academies Mudassar Nazar, Director Domestic Cricket Haroon Rasheed, Director International Zakir Khan, and former Pakistan women’s team captain Urooj Mumtaz.

Zakir is to act as the secretary of the committee.“The issue of departmental cricket cannot be taken in a single shot, as there are 24 departmental teams in grade II and eight in first class cricket,” NBP sports head and former Test cricketer Iqbal Qasim said. “Every department employs around 30 cricketers. Some have more than 100,” he added.

Iqbal said he would like to see departmental cricket side by side with regional competitions as was the case till mid-2000s. There used to be Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for regions and Patron’s Trophy for departments.

The departments are keenly waiting for the meeting of the advisory committee.Iqbal added that the committee would have to decide how regions would bring sponsors and if they could ensure regular income for cricketers, at least for 10 years. “Our regions are not financially strong. Is PCB ready to give financial support to regions?” he asked.

Iqbal said that departments had contributed a lot to Pakistan cricket. “We won World Cup, reached the finals and semi-finals of big events, won ICC Champions Trophy, World T20. We produced legends and greats of this game through the same system,” he argued.

Heads of some departments whom ‘The News’ talked to said the departments were the backbone of Pakistan cricket. Those sitting in the PCB advisory committee themselves were the beneficiaries of departmental cricket, they added. Mohsin, Misbah, Wasim were all part of departments when they played, they said.

The department sports chiefs said the advisory committee should know what happened to Pakistan’s standing in the hockey world when departmental teams were closed. An official said Haroon Rasheed abolished the under-19 teams of eight departments in 2012 and the result was defeats against lowly teams such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

“Pakistan is neither Australia nor England. There is no state or county system. We cannot throw out departments which allocated handsome amounts to run their teams and provide permanent employment,” Iqbal said.

Shah Naeem, former KPT sports manger, said that PCB must think a dozen times before taking the decision of dropping departmental cricket. Shah Naeem warned that cricketers would come to streets if PCB abolished departmental cricket.

He said that only WAPDA has 250 cricketers in its staff, ZTBL 159, NBP 40, and KRL 35 to 40. Masood Anwar, a former member of PCB’s Board of Governors and General Manager Sports at ZTBL, said PCB should keep regions and departments side by side, as it had always produced good results.

He said that abolition of departments would be disastrous. “If English cricket system is so good, why had England never won a World Cup, although the event was held in that country more than anywhere else?” he asked. Meanwhile, it was learnt that the advisory committee would meet in the first week of December.