Jalal shows concern about club cricket conditions

KARACHI: Former Test fast bowler Jalaluddin has expressed serious reservations about rules that PCB has laid down for establishing clubs.

Talking to ‘The News’ on Wednesday, he said those who laid down the rules did not know the ground realities. He said the rules formulated by by PCB which is now led by Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan were not much different from those introduced by previous regimes.

Jalal, who has been involved in regional cricket as an organiser and coach, said that the newly announced rules had few new things.

He said the model was not financially viable although it might seem good on paper.

He said that there are 161 clubs in Karachi affiliated with PCB having voting rights but very few of them have their own grounds.

Jalal, an ECB Level-III coach, said it was not possible for club organisers to bring huge revenues to meet the expenditure that was required of them under the new rules.

He said that only a few clubs would be able to meet the conditions. The majority of cricket clubs would be rejected and club cricket would be severely affected, he added.

He said the PCB should ensure the players must also reside in the area where his club is situated.

About Pakistan series against England, he said the players and the management must learn from the hosts’ series against the West Indies.

He said that England is a strong unit as compared to Pakistan, but Pakistan has some edge in bowling. “It depends upon the batting line-up to help bowlers by at least posting 300 plus runs in each innings. They must provide the bowlers some chance to bowl England out twice,” he said.

He said that Jofra Archer would be a threat to Pakistan’s fragile batting line-up. So the batting coach will have to adopt a strategy of handling Archer on seaming conditions.

Jalal, also an ICC staff coach, further said that ban on use of saliva for shining the ball is a great loss for fast and medium pace bowlers. ICC should resolve this issue otherwise the bowlers would face immense problems, he added.