For many years the state of domestic cricket in Pakistan has come under intense scrutiny from experts and fans alike on issues such as type of competitions, structure, grounds, quality of wickets or even the type of cricket balls used.

By Saj Sadiq (6th November, 2012)

For many years the state of domestic cricket in Pakistan has come under intense scrutiny from experts and fans alike on issues such as type of competitions, structure, grounds, quality of wickets or even the type of cricket balls used. All have had their say and finally it seems the PCB has taken some positive action in some aspects.

However has the PCB gone far enough in this regard? Is changing the format and separating regional teams from departments enough? Is using a different type of cricket ball enough? I don't think it is, and one area I feel that the PCB has not addressed is the issue of providing young cricketers with a launch pad and better preparation for international cricket.

Once in a while a Mohammad Amir will appear in domestic cricket, a genius, perform brilliantly from a young age and then take to international cricket like a duck to water....but those players are a rare commodity, they don't grow on trees. Most young cricketers need a proper grounding, a proper system and above all a fair chance at domestic cricket before they are thrust onto the international scene.

Too often young Pakistani cricketers are thrown into international cricket when they are not ready and that is down to the fact that they have simply not had the grounding at domestic cricket to be battle hardened and prepared for the challenges of facing top sides like England and South Africa particularly in the longer formats of cricket.

There's been a lot of debate of late on PakPassion about whether young cricketers in Pakistan are given a fair chance in domestic cricket to prove their worth. Are many of these youngsters rightly out in the cold and don't get a look in, until they have "served their apprenticeship" by carrying the drinks for years, or is it case of they are they simply not good enough and will have to bide their time for their opportunity?

Is it right that youngsters like Mohammad Nawaz, the Pakistani Under 19 cricketer are carrying the drinks for team mates at National Bank whilst some of his team mates struggle match after match?

Perhaps the scenario is that the culture of Pakistan means that those cricketers who have been employees of some departments and served them well over the years get first choice and a certain degree of favouritism when it comes to team selection?

Looking through the squads in the ongoing President's Trophy there are a whole host of cricketers who are well past their best and simply playing in first class cricket to play enough first matches under their belt per season to earn a contract in the UK in league cricket. Some would say that is unfair, others would term it simply as trying to make a living.

To investigate the issue further I used the PIA and Habib Bank teams from the recently concluded President's Trophy match as a sample and came up with the following numbers :-

For PIA the average age of the team listed was 28.68. There were five cricketers over the age of thirty in the starting eleven and there was only one cricketer under the age of twenty four in PIA's team.

Habib Bank's statistics were similar in that they had five players in their starting eleven over the age of thirty and the average age of the starting eleven was 28.73. Habib Bank had three cricketers under the age of 24 playing against PIA recently.

The above numbers will no doubt be similar across the other first class teams and will undoubtedly include players who really are only making up the numbers.

The problem in my mind has been identified but what can be the solution?

The solution that I would recommend to the PCB is to have in place rulings that force each of the first class teams to include at least three cricketers under the age of twenty one in their starting line up for every T20, fifty over match and four day match. Each first class team in Pakistan already has a pool of players under the age of twenty one to choose from so this should not be a difficult rule to follow. All it means is that the captain and the selection panel for each team has to monitor the young cricketers quickly and identify which ones they feel are ready for the first team.

Now this idea may seem harsh on the older players or the elder statesmen of the team, but at the end of the day if they are still performing well then they will continue to get selected. The ruling would also provide a "kick up the rear" to some of these elder statesmen who are coasting along in first class cricket.

The PCB isn't one for revolutionising cricket in Pakistan and this idea may be a bit "out of the box" for some, but I think it would be a step forward and a step in the right direction for Pakistani cricket to prepare mentally, physically and technically young cricketers for the riguors of international matches.  

  Discuss!