Most of the developed countries give premium importance to sports. They include sports as part of the curriculum for schools, colleges and universities. The main realisation is that sports at educational institutes build stronger bodies and, in turn, sharper minds. The United States leads the world in this field, and as per the 2024-2025 report, a record 8.27 million participants took part in school sports.
Pakistan has lagged behind in this and hence the widely acclaimed talent factory suffers. There are myriads of reasons for this and the most notable among them is commercialisation. Around 70 per cent of schools in Pakistan are built on small areas where classrooms are tightly squeezed with no proper allocation of a sporting field. The analogy, sports in developed countries and in our country, reminds of a tragicomic phrase by humorist and satirist, Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi, “Developed countries treat sport as part of education, we treat education as sport.”
Almost all the top countries have school cricket programs. But the most touted one is in Sri Lanka. While at the Twenty20 in Colombo this year, I asked my driver to stop at a ground which was full to capacity with school kids. I thought it was a fun fair or a circus. But to my amazement, it was the final of the school cricket tournament. Both sides of fans were intense and were applauding every run scored and every good delivery.
Sri Lanka has a highly competitive structure of the sport within educational institutions across the island, serving as a vital foundation for talent development and national cricketing success since its introduction during British colonial rule in the 19th century. The school system has produced international stars like Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Lasith Malinga.
It is going on and on and contributing greatly towards the national teams.
If we go back and search, cricket in institutions like universities, colleges, and schools has played a key role in establishing Pakistan as a force in the sport. When cricket started to take roots in the nascent set-up, Islamia College and Government College were the talent factories even before the Independence of 1947. The rivalry between the two Colleges was part of our cricket lore.
Similarly, the competition between the Islamic Model and Model High School used to ignite School cricket. Then we had the Ruby Shield specific for Schools in competitions where St Patrick, BVS and Sindh Madrassah were top teams. The Sindh Madrasa produced one of the greatest batters ever to play for Pakistan, Hanif Mohammad. Hanif was picked for Pakistan team’s inaugural tour of India in 1952 as a 14-year-old schoolboy. His induction proved the standard of School cricket at the time.
In this backdrop, it is heartening that the Pakistan Cricket Board has sped up its school cricket program. The launch of the PCB Talent Hunt Program for Schools, which will run from 15 September to 5 December across Pakistan, shows the consistency of the project and, more importantly, the intent to find and groom the budding talent. One must appreciate the fact that the program has been expanded from 450 schools to 1,200 schools and is spread to 100 districts from last year’s 39.
The WIDER the net, the more talent you catch!
Sincere efforts always pay dividends. This could be gauged that over 3,300 schools signed up for the program. PCB scrutinised the applications and pared them back to 1,200, which is again a big number.
“The deserving teams will be provided equipment and funds, while coaches will be provided to all teams as they will undergo a month of training and skill development in August and September, after which the first phase of the tournament will begin across each district,” said PCB’s Senior General Manager Domestic Cricket Operations Osama Sharoon while announcing the program.
“The rationale of School Cricket is to scout talented players early on in their age and then provide them with platforms in domestic cricket to advance into the professional circuit. A number of cricket legends played school cricket in their countries and it catapulted them to fame.”
The best part of school cricket will be the presence of former Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Misbah has been inclined towards talent development and that is what has associated him with school cricket. He has a wonderful eye, a brilliant ability to convey the best things to a player and the intent to see the end result. He is always of the opinion that Pakistan has talent and the main thing that is missing is the development of players.
Famous US football player Lon Watters once said “School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.” It would be great if PCB, in collaboration with schools and the hard work of the students, makes our future of cricket go from the four walls to international stadiums.
