In an exclusive chat with PakPassion.net, Sarfaz Nawaz stated that as a member of the advisory Team, he was looking forward to the challenge of making recommendations to the Board and that he hoped the Task Team could come up with some good ideas to take Pakistan cricket into the future.

By Saj Sadiq (16th December, 2011)

 

The Pakistan Cricket Board yesterday announced that it had formulated a Task Team to give suggestions to the Board for the improvement of domestic cricket in Pakistan.

Chairman Zaka Ashraf is particularly keen to revamp the domestic cricket structure and has requested the Task Team to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of domestic cricket in Pakistan.

The Task Team has also been asked to propose any changes that they feel will improve domestic cricket. The team made up of former first class cricketers has a advisory role to the PCB and will submit it's recommendations within 2 months.

PakPassion.net spoke to the former pace bowler Sarfaz Nawaz who is one of the Task Team members. Nawaz stated that he was looking forward to the challenge of making recommendations to the Board and that he hoped the Task Team could come up with some good ideas to take Pakistan cricket into the future.

"The Task team has been given a huge and important project to undertake. Making any changes to domestic cricket in Pakistan is not a small matter, it has to be well thought out. I'm really looking forward to the challenge and hope that my colleagues and I on the Team can come up with some good ideas."

Sarfraz when asked for specific changes that he felt were required stated "We need to look at the whole set up from top to bottom. That is first class cricket right down to club cricket and scrutinise it fully. The structure of club cricket which is the feeder to first class teams needs a detailed investigation and we will make our proposals regarding this to the PCB after thorough research."

Nawaz, who earlier in this year served as one of the coaches assessing emerging fast bowling talent in a camp held in Lahore added "We need to look at the domestic structures of other Test playing nations such as India, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa and see what the pros and cons are of those structures. Let's take a look at their structures and see if we can benefit from something similar or whether we need to have a unique structure."

"Umpiring standards and the standard of performance by match referees in domestic cricket are a particular area that I feel needs improving. Some of the umpiring decisions in domestic cricket are beyond belief and the standard of umpiring needs improving considerably."

The current Quaid E Azam Trophy which is Pakistan's premier first class competition sees departmental and regional teams playing against one another in two divisions. However Nawaz feels that the mix of departmental and regional teams is not the ideal set up and stated "The competitiveness has diminished due to the current first class structure and I don't think that mixing departmental and regional teams is ideal."

"I also think there are too many teams in the top tier of first class cricket. There should be less teams and this will mean that only the top players play in first class cricket. I'm sure that by reducing the number of teams the overall standard will improve. I favour quality over quantity. There are too many average teams in first class cricket meaning that there are too many average cricketers being produced and finding their way to international cricket. Some of these players then play for Pakistan and are exposed straight away."

Nawaz whose playing career spanned 18 years also feels that there should be consistency in the type of cricket balls used in first class cricket and stated "I spoke about the type of cricket ball being used in domestic cricket, the first time I met the Chairman. Mr Ashraf asked for some generic thoughts from me in a meeting we had last month and I said to him that the same type of cricket ball should be used in club cricket and in domestic cricket at all levels as is used in international cricket. At the moment various types of cricket balls are used in the different levels of cricket and this does not help our cricketers at all."

Selection in domestic cricket is also an issue that Nawaz feels needs addressing by the PCB and is something that he wants to discuss with his Task Team colleagues.

"The problem is that whoever gets elected in any of the regional setups becomes a dictator and starts taking over everything including team selection. This has to be ended. The poor individuals who lose the regional elections lose everything, the clubs that they run and everything else. There needs to be proper selection committees for each team so that players are picked on merit and not based on who they are familiar with."

"There are many things to consider and I feel setting up this Task Team is a step forward in improving Pakistan's cricket structure for the future."

The first meeting of the Task team that consists of Intikhab Alam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Imtiaz Ahmed, Moin Khan, Iqbal Qasim, Zakir Khan and of course Sarfraz Nawaz is scheduled for 21st December in Karachi.