When greenhorn Oliver Peake hit a boundary and a six off seasoned Haris Rauf, it epitomised the difference in the cricketing systems of Pakistan and Australia. A 19-year-old had the guts and skill to wait and did not get frustrated with his six runs off 15 balls. He waited till the last over and gave Australia a defendable total of 231.
Little wonder, Australia won that second ODI in Lahore. The Australian cricket system is the most touted, not only for the successes their national teams attain, but also for producing mature cricketers. Once out of the factory, these players are ready for the challenges of international cricket. Peake showed how mentally and tactically strong they come out of their system. It proved how much our players lag when thrown into the deep waters of international cricket.
A slight blip in Australian domestic cricket recently has prompted Cricket Australia to hold a summit to stem any problems they feel would hurt their progress. That is to let everyone know what value they give to their domestic cricket.
Much has been done under the Mohsin Naqvi-led Pakistan Cricket Board in the last two years, and there are not doubts that more will be done in the months to come. There is passion and commitment to lift the standards of our cricket. But the recent results have left a lot to be desired. To celebrate, or not to celebrate, to moan or not to moan. The fans of cricket are in a fix. Pakistan’s recent humiliation of a 2-0 whitewash in Bangladesh is a sign of further decline. It simply disillusioned the die-hard fans.
Just a few days later, Pakistan had to fight really hard to win the three-match ODI series 2-1 against an under-strength Australia team missing eight of their frontline players. A win is a win, but the way the ODI win was achieved after a stutter and ill-advised strategy of employing spin pitches left fans disappointed. The series once again laid bare the anomalies in our cricketing system.
Recently, PCB has endeavoured to improve domestic cricket. The club level and school cricket have been given importance, which will definitely bear fruit. From club and school matches, we can inject good players into our domestic system. Encouraging steps have been taken to lift women’s cricket. Before the current PCB regime, the annual budget for them was PKR 70 million, which Naqvi increased to 240 million. The women’s team has been given more matches, better staff and improved training facilities. A talent hunt has been conducted to find new talent for the women’s team.
Sadly, the performance of our cricket board is always judged on the national team’s performance. If the national team doesn’t do well, then all efforts and good work of the Board are demeaned.
PCB needs to do the repair work in two ways: short-term and long-term. The long-term route demands that we address our domestic cricket. Why do our top players from domestic cricket struggle when they graduate to international cricket? The domestic system should be well-regimented. There has always been an overwhelming desire to hold domestic cricket in high regard. As they say, “the proof is in the pudding”, which proves that we have not done much to give our domestic cricket the respect it deserves.
The first step is to schedule the domestic first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, on a set patron. There have been so many changes in the set-up of this prestigious event. The 2013-14 event saw 26 teams, and then gradually it changed to 12, 16 and six teams. The number should be fixed for at least ten years. Then the event should be scheduled in a period when there are no international fixtures. That will make all the top players available. Our top players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Rizwan have not played much first-class cricket, and that is not only hurting their skills but also degrading our top event.
It is always said that to resolve your own problems or correct your system before criticising or instructing others, you must put your house in order. Talent is there; the commitment of PCB is unquestioned. All we need is to improve our system. Fans should be patient. The overhauling of a system takes some time.
