A brainstorming discussion session on the structure of domestic Cricket was held at the PCB today, under the Chairmanship of Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia, Chairman PCB. The session lasted for well over two hours, in which a large number of cricketers, administrators, writers, belonging to all areas & eras of Pakistan Cricket had been specially invited. Those who attended the session were Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Waqar Hasan, Javed Burki, Saeed Ahmed, Intikhab Alam, Wasim Bari, Rameez Raja, Aamer Sohail, Abdul Qadir, Haroon Rashid, Aaqib Javed, Sultan Rana, Mudassar Nazar and Ijaz Butt. Senior PCB officials, viz, Director PCB, G.M (Cricket Operations), Manager Domestic Cricket and the Media Manager were in attendance. Imran Khan, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad and Iqbal Qasim had declined to attend on account of their commitments.

All participants contributed significantly and passionately to the discussion. Prominent among those who participated among those who participated were Gul Hameed Bhatti, Aamer Sohail, Ijaz Butt, Aaqib Javed, Abdul Qadir, Saeed Ahmed, Fazal Mahmood, Waqar Hasan, Hanif Mohammad, Javed Burki, Haroon Rashid, Wasim Bari, Saeed Ahmed, Mudassar Nazar, Sriaj-ul-Islam Bokhari and Ashraf Qureshi.

The dialogue with senior cricketers including some legendary stalwarts of the past, several former Pakistan captains, resulted in a lively and thought provoking discussion.

A number of highly innovative and interesting ideas were raised by the participants on all aspect of domestic cricket during the discussion. Joining the discussion were former captain Fazal Mahmood who thought that the real base of national cricket was in the rural areas, and the ample resources were available through the Union Councils and the Local Bodies could be used for the promotion and uplift of cricket.

Hanif Mohammad opined that the graph of cricket was on the up in Pakistan and in this the departments and several corporate bodies had played a vital role. He also endorsed the ideas of Abdul Qadir, who said that greater stress on quality cricket and development of grass-root level cricket through introducing grade cricket.

Ijaz Butt, a former test cricketer and an honoury secretary of board too fully participated in the discussion as did former captains Saeed Ahmed, Javed Burki and Aamer Sohail, Aaqib Javed, Mudassar Nazar, Haroon Rashid, journalist Gul Hameed Bhatti, and officials of Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore cricket associations.

Chairman PCB, gave the introductory talk and guided the discussion through thought provoking leading questions. During the discussion he informed the participants on the functioning of the National Umpiring Council, the PCB Pitch Committee and the efforts of the PCB in benefiting & having a very large number of Test and prominent first class cricketers, in one way or the other.

The assembled participants reached a general consensus on the following points.

• The present structure is Ok
  It should not be tinkered with without due consideration
• Only some modifications were called for in favour of enhancing the quality of first class cricket.
• That the idea of holding a Super League comprising the top players of the country be looked into.
• That the question of ensuring selection on merit at the association level be institutionalized.

© PCB