LAHORE April 4, 2016: Following receipt of the report last Friday by the Special Committee on the poor team performance in the Asia Cup 2016 and ICC WT20 2016 the Chairman PCB after having studied the same and considered the findings and recommendations is pleased to announce the following decisions to address the problems in Pakistan cricket:
Short Term Measures
(a) Selection Committee
Having reviewed the report of the Special Committee the Chairman has accepted the recommendations therein with regard to a change in Selection Committee. Therefore with immediate effect the Selection Committee has been disbanded and a new Selection Committee will be announced in due course.
(b) T20 Captain
Shahid Afridi was appointed T20 Captain up till ICC WT20 2016. With the event now concluded and as per the recommendations of the Special Committee, the PCB will shortly appoint a new T20 Captain in place of Shahid Afridi.
(c) Team Coach
Waqar Younis has publically resigned from his position and the PCB will now initiate the process of inducting a new Coach for Pakistan team. For this purpose a panel is being formed comprising of Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja to assist in finding a replacement for Waqar at the earliest.
(d) Fitness Issue of Players
The Special Committee highlighted fitness of the players as a major issue in the poor performance of Pakistan team. The PCB will henceforth make fitness standards achievements conditional in the players’ contracts and with fines to be imposed on players not achieving the desired standards.
(e) Boot Camp to be Setup
Pakistan team’s next assignment is in England in the english summer 2016. In order to prepare for the tough tour and as recommended by Special Committee a boot camp is being planned in coordination with Pakistan Army in Abbottabad to make the players physically fit for the England tour.
(f) PCB Spokesman for Media
In order to curve the negativity in media regarding PCB and to streamline the media protocols, a PCB spokesman will be shortly appointed to brief the media on regular basis on all issues.
(g) Appointment of Team Psychologist and Dietician
The mental toughness of the players and their dietary needs will be given special emphasis and for this purpose PCB will be shortly making appointments of Psychologist and Dietician on need basis for the Pakistan team.
Long Team Measures
(a) Game Development / National Cricket Academy
A reevaluation of the National Cricket Academy and Game Development will be done shortly in consultation with the relevant stakeholders.
(b) Fitness and Fielding
To reverse the backward state of poor fitness and fielding, a fitness and fielding schedule will be implemented that reaches out to all first class teams throughout the country and insists on player emoluments only after reaching required fitness levels.
(c) School/University and Club Cricket
PCB has recently signed an MOU for organizing school, university and club cricket throughout the country. Special emphasis is being given to these institutions that have been ignored within our systems.
(d) PSL Style Sponsorship for Regions
After the successful completion of PSL, the focus is now on arranging PSL style sponsorship for regional cricket. This will benefit the regions immensely making them operative on a self-sustaining basis.
(e) Domestic First Class Program
A more competitive domestic first class program involving fewer teams and players is being worked out.
(f) PCB Committees
The current PCB Committees will be reorganized shortly.
(g) Pitches and Curation
The pitches and curation is been given special focus with directions already issued to improve the quality of pitches in domestic cricket which have a direct bearing on the competiveness of cricket.
(h) Bio Mechanics Lab
The Bio Mechanics Lab which had remained non-functional for a very long period of time is now being made functional in coordination and cooperation with LUMS University.
The above reforms which will have far reaching benefits will be implemented within the next 3 to 6 months. Commenting on the short teams and long term measures Chairman PCB said,“ I am thankful to the Special Committee for presenting their detailed report which had important recommendations that I am pleased to accept. While the decision on Selection Committee, Coaches and T20 Captain was a tough one, in the interest of Pakistan cricket we have now taken the above steps to address the decline in our cricket. I am thankful to Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi and Selection Committee headed by Haroon Rashid for the services they provided to Pakistan cricket in the past and wish them all good luck in their future endeavours. PCB has not sought scapegoats or played the blame game. PCB recognizes the need for honest introspection. It is now time to move forward for betterment of cricket.”
It needs to recognized that the Pakistan team has achieved commendable successes in the past two years.
- Pakistan has won Test series against Australia, England (Ashes winner), and Sri Lanka when playing away from home.
- In fact, we achieved the rare feat of winning in all three formats when playing in Sri Lanka.
- PCB has gradually succeeded in inviting foreign teams to play in Pakistan. We have managed to host Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Kenya and Bangladesh (women’s team).
- PCB is on the verge of concluding agreements for a Commonwealth team, Afghanistan and West Indies to visit Pakistan in the near future if the security situation permits.
- PSL launched last year was a resounding success appreciated by the public and the media. PSL has changed the cricketing landscape in Pakistan.
