An advisory council has no place in the organizational setup of the cricket board, particularly when the present arrangement is based on ad hocism. One thought that in accord with the current constitution, which has not and cannot be sent to the lumber room, the General Body, the highest tier of the PCB, should have been revived. But strange are the ways of the chairman, Shaharyar Khan, essentially a diplomat and for that particular reason he was assigned the ticklish job of a manager to India and the last World Cup.
Being a prince his mindset could not have left the environs of authoritarianism. And that is why the announcement of constituting an advisory council, instead of restoring the legal Council, the second highest board tier.
Sadly the advisers are all non-technocrats - bankers, bureaucrats and an Army General - except Hanif Mohammad who somehow or the other joins any bandwagon of the board, whether legal or irregular and gives the least opinion in the discussions. The last meeting of the advisers, which began before noon at the Qadhafi Stadium, the headquarters of the board, went on upto the evening but it failed to take any significant decision on the progression of the country's cricket.
The main item on the set agenda was the new format for the coming domestic cricket season.
The discussion was a marathon one but a concrete decision was deferred for the next meeting of getting-together, talking, sipping tea and then dispersing without coming to a consensus. Perhaps the sticking point was the role of the departments in the new competitive arrangement. Should the organisations be struck out from the season's cricket and only the regions or associations be allowed to send their entries in the lateral contests. Naturally an interesting debate must have gone on and on. Maybe that the marketing and sponsorship problem was difficult to be surmounted. Leave out the departments from the competitive structure and there crops up the monetary difficulty. Who will finance the tournament? Who will foot the bill of the kits, the cups, the cash prizes? Will the PCB itself come forward to help run the tournaments. It will be an enormous amount for the board to spend, instead of the sponsors investing the money for the tournaments.
Should the organisations be allowed to take part in the home cricket competitions or not?
The tremendous contributions to the country's cricket made by the multinationals and the banks cannot be ignored for who produced such stalwarts as Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Iqbal Qasim, Nasimul Ghani and others. Even an organised batsman like Hanif Mohammad was initially in the service of PWD. Later on he was taken in the service of PIA. The exploits of the above-mentioned players are now a prominent part of our cricket history.
Besides, the United Bank has one of the best sports complexes in Karachi. It is also quite well-maintained. The National Bank's cricket stadium and ground are an excellent site. The Customs too have their arrangements and are spending lots of money on the upkeep of their ground.
If supposing the departments are disallowed to compete in the national contests what interest they will have in providing jobs and benefits to the young breed of cricketers. Even the old generation of players will be denied promotion. As stars of cricket they were recruited, now a ban is going to be clamped by the PCB on their participation in the domestic competitive structure. The administrative heads of the regions and the associations cannot press the top officialdom of the organisations to sponsor the tournaments. The junior players cannot be assured of recruitment and job. Unemployment among the players will skyrocket. Even the youngsters will lose interest in cricket - high-voltage cricket. They will just stay street urchins, batting and bowling on the roads.
If at all the PCB thinks that in an inter-zone match people in large numbers will flock to see the contest the board officials are living in a fool's paradise. On the contrary an inter-department tie, in which top order stars will be seen in action, will attract large crowds, who will be prepared to purchase tickets.
Two cricketing legends and former captains, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram, recently stressed the need of retaining the role of the departments in the home competitions, maybe as a separate contest. Miandad bluntly said the departments had saved the country's cricket and improved the standard of the game.
He said the associations were giving new talents while the departments were honing their technique. He wanted the organisations to have junior teams for grooming as backup sides for future national lineup.
Wasim thought that elimination of organisations from domestic competitions would harm cricket. The lustre from tournaments would vanish. They have to play their role.
Waqar Younis, former express bowler, told the PCB officials in a recent meeting that the organisations should retrain a place and role in the cricket competition, whatever the form the contest takes. The same opinion was expressed by Saeed Anwar and Aaqib Javed, all products of the organisations.
PS: Better sense prevailed on the chairman or due to the pressure from the departments and former reputed players as he said in an interview that the organisations will have their competitive arrangement in the tournamental scheme being prepared by the board.
According to Shaharyar Khan the top eight organisational teams will play in a first-class contest and one-dayer while the rest will be invited to compete in a grade 2 combat.
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