Day: August 24, 2022

Lahore, August 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):Five elite cricket coaches will commence work at the Engro Cricket Coaching Project under the PCB Pathway Cricket Programme. The first phase of the programme begins at the National High Performance Centre, Lahore later this week. The coaches are expected to arrive in Lahore in the next seven to 10 days. Before the arrival of the coaches, screening and fitness testing of the participating players will take place.

The PCB and Engro Corporation entered a three-year agreement earlier this year, on the basis of which, Engro Corporation is sponsoring the foreign coaches involved in the programme.

South Africa’s Gordon Parsons and New Zealand’s Nicholas Webb join Julian Fountain, Julian Wood and Toby Radford who all hail from the United Kingdom.

The five coaches will provide specialist coaching and training to the participants in batting, bowling and fielding disciplines with a special emphasis on enhancing the power-hitting, spin and pace bowling skills.

The foreign coaches selected for the coaching programme are richly experienced and have produced results in age-group and senior cricket around the world for domestic, national and franchise teams.

PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja: “We are delighted to announce a high-profile coaching panel for the Engro Cricket Coaching Project under the PCB Pathway Cricket Programme. These coaches have made their name and reputation with innovative coaching on modern lines that has helped cricketers from around the world.

“With Engro’s support, we want to shape the future of Pakistan cricket by investment at the grassroots level. The best age to learn about the game and make technical adjustments is at this level. By providing world-class coaching and training to the future Pakistan stars we are building the foundations of a potentially world beating side that can take on teams from around the world for the next 10 to 15 years.

“This project is one of my top priorities and I am pleased that we at the PCB with support of Engro Corporation have made some rapid strides in a short span of time and are now ready to execute this potentially game changing plan for the future of Pakistan cricket.”

President and CEO Engro Corporation Ghias Khan: “It is heartening to witness Engro’s support for PCB’s Pathway Cricket Programme being taken to the next level. An integral leg of the programme, the Engro Cricket Coaching Project will greatly benefit Pakistan’s young cricketers under the coaching supervision of five specialist coaches who will provide dedicated support needed by the young talent to sharpen their playing skills, while teaching them how to become better team players and leaders.

“Engro recognises the positive role of sports in Pakistan’s youth development, and will continue to support such initiatives in the future.”

Coaches’ background:

Fountain has remained a globetrotting coach, has served as Pakistan men’s fielding coach and has also given his services at the NHPC. Fountain was also involved with the Quetta Gladiators in the HBL Pakistan Super League.

Parsons has worked extensively as bowling and head coach in South Africa and the UK and has been recognised in the cricketing world for his coaching expertise.

Webb has worked as strength and conditioning coach for India and New Zealand. He also possesses in-depth experience of training at the county level in the UK.

Wood is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern-day power-hitting training he has extensive county cricket experience and has also worked with some of England’s leading batters in a bid to improve their power-hitting.

Radford possesses rich county cricket experience; he has also worked in the West Indies as director High Performance and assistant coach of the men’s side. He also coached England in this year’s ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

The five coaches will work closely with the PCB coaches during the training camps for the U13, U16 and U19 players. A total of 107 players have been enrolled in the first-batch. These players include the leading performers of the national U19, U16 and U13 tournaments.

After the completion of the pathway camp, the players selected for the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Junior League will join their respective sides in the lead-up to the tournament that starts in the first week of October at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

For more information, contact:
Media Manager,
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-5717231-4
Fax: +92-42-5711860
Website: www.pcb.com.pk

Lahore, August 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):This year’s best two teams of teenage cricketers will be in action at the UBL Sports Complex, Karachi from 25 August as Sindh Blues face Sindh Whites in the final of the National U19 Championship 2022-23.

Along with the bragging rights of being the red-ball champions, the final provides both sides a shot at the winning prize money of PKR1.5million. The team that ends up second will bag PKR750,000. The player of the final and the best performers of the tournament (player of the tournament, best batter, best bowler and best fielder) will win PKR25,000 and PKR50,000 each.

The tournament, one of the several Pakistan Cricket Board’s initiatives to unearth the #PakistanFutureStars, began on 30 July with 12 teams divided into two groups. In a bid to increase the talent pool at the age-group level, each of the six Cricket Associations fielded two teams under the names of Blues and Whites. The Blues formed Group A and the Whites featured in Group B.

With two wins in five matches, Sindh Blues, with most wins in their pool, topped the chart. Sindh Whites, also with two wins and the most in their set, topped Pool B.

The final will be a four-day affair. In case the match ends in a draw, the team with the first innings lead will be declared winners. If the weather or ground conditions do not allow a single ball to be bowled, then both teams will be declared joint winners.

Sindh Blues’ Habibullah has had a terrific run with the bat scoring 294 at an average of 73.50. The right-handed batter has smashed a century and a half-century and his side will be relying heavily on him to continue his impressive batting display in the last four days of this year’s National U19 Championship.

Sindh Whites’ Haseeb-ur-Rehman has had a phenomenal run with the ball, taking 32 wickets in just three matches. The right-arm off-break has recorded three five-fors and his best bowling figures have been an exceptional nine for 79. The second best wicket-taker of the tournament, Abdul Basit of Northern Whites, has 20 wickets in four matches, which underscores Haseeb’s utility for his side.

Haseeb’s teammate, Ghulam Ashraf will be aiming to end the tournament with the most dismissals to his name. He currently has 11 dismissals (eight catches and three stumpings) in five matches and follows Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whites’ Zubair Shinwari, who leads the chart with 12 dismissals (10 catches and two stumpings).

Squads:

Sindh U19 Blues: Wahaj Riaz (Captain) (Karachi), Afnan Khan (Karachi), Aftab (Karachi), Ali Hasan (Karachi), Arbaz Khan (Karachi), Habibullah (Karachi), Hameed Karim (Karachi), Haroon Arshad (Karachi), Khuwaja Muhammad Hafeez (Karachi), Maaz Khurram (Karachi), Mirza Saad Baig (Karachi), Muhammad Hanif (Karachi), Naveed Ahmed (Karachi), Rehan Shah (Karachi) and Shahbaz Aziz (Jacobabad)

Reserve players: Abdullah Alam (Karachi), Daud Abbas (Shaheed Benazirabad), Faroz Ali (Larkana), Haseeb-ur-Rahman (Hyderabad) and Ubaid Raza (Khairpur)

Coaching staff: Muhammad Masroor (head coach), Tahir Mehmood (assistant coach)

Sindh U19 Whites: Muhammad Hassan Iqbal (Captain) (Khi Zone-III), Abdul Moeez (Khi Zone-VII), Ali Ishaq (Khi Zone-VI), Daniyal Ahmed (Khi Zone-V), Ghulam Ashraf (Khi Zone-VI), Hamza Qureshi (Khi Zone-VI), Mansoor Ali Khoso (Khairpur), Muhammad Fahad Amin (Khi Zone-III), Muhammad Saad Asif (Khi Zone-VII), Noman Ali (Hyderabad), Rumail Ahmed (Khi Zone-III), Saqlain Nawaz Rajput (Khairpur), Shahwaiz Yasir (Khi Zone-II), Syed Tayyab Hussain (Khi Zone-II) and Syed Yahya Shah (Hyderabad)

Reserves: Abdul Rehman Niazi (Khi Zone-II), Awais Raheem Shah (Khi Zone-VI), Mohammad Umar Khan Sherani (Mirpurkhas), Muhammad Hannan (Sukkur) and Ziaullah (Khi Zone-II)

Coaching staff: Ghulam Ali (Head Coach), Zafar Iqbal (Assistant Coach)

For more information, contact:
Media Manager,
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-5717231-4
Fax: +92-42-5711860
Website: www.pcb.com.pk

Lahore, August 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):Two cricket legends Sir Vivian Richards of the West Indies and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad, will reunite at October’s Pakistan Junior League after King Viv was named as one of the team mentors by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Richards joins Javed, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Daren Sammy, Colin Munro and Imran Tahir as league mentors.

The inaugural edition of the tournament will run from 6-21 October at the headquarters of Pakistan cricket, the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Richards and Miandad dominated world cricket with their breath taking talent and match-winning performances in the 1970s and 80s. They last played against each other in the Nehru Cup final in Kolkata on 1 November 1989 when Pakistan won by four wickets with one ball remaining.

Richards has also been a part of Quetta Gladiators’ campaign in six of seven HBL Pakistan Super Leagues and also helped them win the title in 2019.

Richards, a two-time World Cup winner, averaged over 50 in Tests following his 8,540 runs in 121 matches, while he scored 6,721 runs at 47 in 187 ODIs. The Antiguan was also handy with the ball, taking 32 Test and 118 ODI wickets.

In 2000, Richards was voted as one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Century, while in December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman and as the third greatest Test cricket batter. In 2013 when Wisden selected the best Test team across 150 years of Test history, it slotted Richards at number-three.

Javed scored 8832 runs at 52.57 with the help of 23 centuries in his prolific Test career that spanned 124 Tests. The legendary batter also featured in 233 ODIs scoring 7381 runs at 41.70 with the help of eight centuries.

Sir Vivian Richards: “I am absolutely thrilled at reuniting with my mate Javed Miandad at the Pakistan Junior League with whom I cherish some great memories from our playing days. Miandad was a fighter and a tough competitor, and it will be lovely to be working alongside him at the Pakistan Junior League, which is an exciting and innovative concept.

“During my playing days, I always admired the talent Pakistan produced and this belief strengthened during my time with Quetta Gladiators at the HBL Pakistan Super League. The PCB have gone one step further by introducing age-group franchise cricket, which will help in further nurturing and developing outstanding talent.

“I think the Pakistan Junior League is a tremendous tool for further consolidating Pakistan cricket’s foundations by unearthing and developing quality talent.”

Javed Miandad: “I am really excited at the opportunity of working with Sir Vivian Richards who remains one of the greatest players to play the game. The Pakistan Junior League is an innovative and exciting concept and provides a great platform to junior players. I am sure that the league will help introduce some incredible future talent that will serve Pakistan cricket for the decades to come.

“The PCB deserves a lot of credit for this initiative which will be the first in the cricketing world, During my stint at the PJL I would endeavour to help youngsters in their quest of improvement in their game as I am a firm believer that with strong basics you can build a solid game that can help you in all formats of the game.

“Teenage years are the best for honing skills as a cricketer and the players involved in the event will have a wonderful opportunity of showcasing their talent at a world-class and competitive environment.”

For more information, contact:
Media Manager,
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 54600, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-5717231-4
Fax: +92-42-5711860
Website: www.pcb.com.pk