Domestic cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) underwent a major overhaul last year when the departmental system was scrapped in favor of a new structure of the regional cricket. The old cricket department, which has been the backbone of local cricket since the early 1970s, featured 16 first-class teams who were affiliated with private institutions such as the Khan Research Laboratories and the Habib Bank Limited. However, with the introduction of the new system, the number of teams has been reduced to six provincial teams, with Punjab playing two teams and six teams to accommodate the cricket team of northern areas such as Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. The PCB has restructured county level cricket into a three-tier system below. The lower division consists of 90 city cricket associations who will oversee school and club cricket in their areas. The winners from this round will move on to the middle stage to participate in the inter-city rounds. Those who win this stage will be eligible to play for their provincial teams, if they are selected. The six cricket associations will ensure the control of the affairs of the associations in the city. They are also expected to formulate policies to develop grassroots cricket, manage club cricket in collaboration with the associations of the city and also see competition in the city. Most importantly, he is responsible for generating revenue through support, marketing and collaboration with corporate businesses. Each county association now has a chief executive and board of directors who are responsible for overseeing all cricket activities. These changes were made by the PCB in order to diversify the management in order to limit itself to a specific role by giving the responsibilities related to the development of the game to the provincial associations. The framework is undoubtedly detailed and strong, but will require constant monitoring from the PCB for at least the next two years to ensure that the new system remains on a possible path It pays dividends by producing top players. a permanent foundation. Of course, the revamped structure has its fair share of detractors with legendary cricketer Javed Miandad criticizing the new system for dismissal of opportunities and careers of new cricketers. The world cup batsman said: “I played for Habib Bank Limited where I was promoted to the position of senior vice president and enabled me to provide higher education to my children. Therefore, these departments, by giving jobs to athletes, are taking care of what they need.” To see if the above criticism holds water, let’s let’s briefly compare the functioning of the department with the new revamped structure. The department used to have 16 teams employing around 350 cricketers. However, in the new structure, each team with 32 players on their books and 16 of them are first team players and the rest are reserves.This means that there are 192 players in total. stop but at least 160 cricketers have been released. Reducing the number of cricketers is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there will be more competition for places and quality, get the best out of the players. At the same time, the top cricketers who cannot secure a guaranteed place in the teams may choose not to work in the national game because of the f rights of this may not be able to finance, especially if their economic conditions are not stable at the beginning. Fazal Subhan, who represented Pakistan under 19 and the ‘A’ team, is one of the cricketers who have been forced to find another job after the disbandment of the cricket department. Veteran cricketer Mohammad Hafeez shared a picture on his twitter account where Subhan was seen driving a mini truck to clear money. Hafeez expressed his displeasure at Subhan’s situation, saying, “Like him, many others are suffering. [as well]. The new system will oversee 200 players, while thousands of cricketers and administrators have lost their jobs because of this new plan. I don’t know who will be responsible for the lack of jobs of the cricketers…” This is the sad situation of some players who were not selected by the district cricket association. However, those who made the cut will see their financial situation improve significantly at the start of the new national wage. For starters, each of the 32 players has been placed on a monthly bonus of Rs50,000. This amount does not include settlement fees, stipends and allowances which will be paid separately. Also, the fees for four-day matches have been increased from Rs50,000 to Rs75,000 while the fee for a one-day match, be it a T20 match or 50-over match, enhanced to Rs40,000. Therefore, the former players will get Rs2-2.5 million per year as opposed to Rs1.2 million which was offered earlier. Also, the reserve players, who earlier got Rs0.5 million, can now get Rs1.2 million. As a result, those who can make the cut will have a better wage structure and a bigger piece of the pie. Therefore, it must be asked who will ensure that the recruitment of players is carried out on the basis that only qualified players, regardless of their family background, are get a spot on the 32-man squad? This question is very important because of the way our cricket is known for not being able to protect itself from the evil of nepotism when considering players for selection, both domestically and internationally. the international level. It is also important to remember that the PCB will inject Rs1.1 billion for the first three years and then withdraw their financial support, with the hope that the organization will be financially stable during this period. The private sector, or rather, the organizations that own the teams in the first set, have officially opened the door which may scare them away from investing in the new cricket system because the companies may feel that they will not get the same income with the type of social media and advertising they were used to before. This may be a concern for cricket associations who may be looking to partner with such companies in order to maintain, sustain revenue. If local cricket associations fail to do so, the new scale and improved pay could fall apart along with the internal structure itself. In fact, the current chief executive of the PCB, Prime Minister Imran Khan has always announced the launch of this new structure in the local area which takes inspiration from Australia’s Sheffield Shield. The Australian structure, which has produced exceptional cricketing talent over the years, also has six teams, one for each state or province. However, the one critical question that remains unanswered is this; Can Australia’s team of six models based on a country of 24.6 million people be considered relevant for Pakistan’s growing population of 220 million and counting? .
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