Category: Games

Lahore, August 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):In a bid to provide ample match training ahead of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, the Pakistan Cricket Board today announced a bumper 2021-22 women’s cricket season.

Over the course of the upcoming season, the country’s top women players are scheduled to compete in 33 matches – domestic and international – in the home season.

The women’s home season will commence on 9 September in Karachi with the 14-match, four-team Pakistan Cup Women’s One-Day Tournament and will be followed by the national side’s historic series against England Women, which will mark the current 50-over Women’s World Cup champions’ first-ever visit of the country.

The Heather Knight-led side will play two T20Is and three ODIs in October from 10 to 22 at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.

At the backend of 2021, the national side will travel to Zimbabwe for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, in which they will play seven matches – four group matches and three Super Six fixtures, subject to their qualification for the second round of the tournament – and the ACC Women’s Asia Cup, the details of which will be announced by the event organisers.

Meanwhile, the PCB is also in talks with an ICC member for an ODI women’s series prior to the national side’s departure for Zimbabwe.

To continue to provide more competitive and quality-based cricket to the women players, the PCB has increased the number of matches, as well as the number of teams across all One-Day and T20 domestic tournaments. While this will help the players in enhancing their skills in match-situations, increased number of matches will also provide financial incentives in terms of more match fee.

As the player pool continues to increase gradually, the PCB has included a fourth team for the upcoming season, a move that will provide opportunity to more players to prove their mettle in domestic competitions.

The PCB has also made an U19 T20 tournament part of the domestic calendar this year. This event will help in the identification of quality players from young age and prepare them for the first edition of the U19 World Cup, scheduled for 2023.

The 2021-22 women’s domestic season will end with the 14-match National Women’s T20 Cup, to be played in June-July next year prior to the national team’s departure for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

During the upcoming season, the national women’s team will also feature in the third cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship, which will commence after the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand next year.

Urooj Mumtaz, the chairperson women’s selection committee: “We are pleased to announce what promises to be an action-packed women’s cricket season for 2021-22. The upcoming season holds a great significance in Pakistan’s women’s cricket history as we have not only planned quality-based competitive domestic tournaments, but also a major team such as England Women, will also be touring the country for the ever first time.

“Pakistan has never before seen such a jam-packed women’s cricket season. The domestic events and the bilateral international series have been designed in a way to provide effective opportunities to the players to prepare themselves for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

“The gradual growth in the player pool through our emerging team and Skills2Shine programme, has led to the addition of a fourth team in our domestic cricket. The increased number of matches will provide an opportunity to a larger group of players, thereby allowing greater opportunities, to polish and enhance their skills, temperament and game awareness.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we could only organise a T20 event in Rawalpindi last season, but this year we are scheduled to hold both One-Day and T20 events, including the addition of an U19 T20 tournament into our domestic calendar. This event will help identify and develop talented individuals keeping in mind the inaugural women’s U19 World Cup is scheduled for 2023. In addition, it will also enhance the player pool at the age-group level, creating a development pathway and feeder system for the national level.”

The PCB will announce the match schedule, teams and other details about the domestic tournaments closer to the start of the events.

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, 2021 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan Cricket Board and Afghanistan Cricket Board have mutually agreed to postpone next month’s three-ODI series, which was scheduled in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. The two boards have agreed that the series, which was planned from 1-8 September, will be rescheduled for 2022.

The ACB had contacted the PCB on Monday evening, requesting to postpone the series for 2022 citing disruption of flight operations in Kabul, increased Covid-19 cases in Sri Lanka, mental health of their players and non-availability of broadcast equipment.

PCB Director International Zakir Khan: “We have worked very closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make this series happen and were keen to play them in the inaugural bilateral series, but we understand their challenges and have, therefore, agreed to reschedule the series for 2022.

“The PCBLahore, August 24, 2021 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan Cricket Board and Afghanistan Cricket Board have mutually agreed to postpone next month’s three-ODI series, which was scheduled in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. The two boards have agreed that the series, which was planned from 1-8 September, will be rescheduled for 2022.

The ACB had contacted the PCB on Monday evening, requesting to postpone the series for 2022 citing disruption of flight operations in Kabul, increased Covid-19 cases in Sri Lanka, mental health of their players and non-availability of broadcast equipment.

PCB Director International Zakir Khan: “We have worked very closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make this series happen and were keen to play them in the inaugural bilateral series, but we understand their challenges and have, therefore, agreed to reschedule the series for 2022.

“The PCB historically enjoys an excellent relationship with the ACB and will do everything to ensure the series is played in 2022 as it is critical for both the sides in terms of direct qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.”

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
historically enjoys an excellent relationship with the ACB and will do everything to ensure the series is played in 2022 as it is critical for both the sides in terms of direct qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.”

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 23, 2021 (PPI-OT):In a bid to continue to create opportunities for the former cricketers to share their experience with domestic and upcoming cricketers, the Pakistan Cricket Board invited applications for coaching roles. The job advertisement is available here.

The roles are for the High Performance system and the domestic structure, which has seen an increase in the number of sides with the introduction of additional teams – two each for a Cricket Association – at the U19 and U16 levels for the upcoming 2021-22 domestic season.

These opportunities arise after the PCB employed numerous former cricketers (international and domestic) to coach the Cricket Association and City Cricket Association sides.

The interested candidates must have Level-II coaching qualification or higher and those who have played Test/international/first-class cricketers would be preferred.

Former cricketers who have significant playing and/or coaching experience encouraged to apply.

Those who qualify for the roles will be expected to, along with other requirements, plan game strategies, create winning environments and develop atmospheres in which individual players are able to perform to their maximum potential.

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 21, 2021 (PPI-OT):A pre-season training camp for men’s white-ball players will commence on Sunday at the National High Performance Centre with practice matches to be played at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The camp will be supervised by the NHPC coaching and support staff, led by Head of International Player Development Saqlain Mushtaq.

Twenty-six players will take part in the camp for which the players will start assembling later today. Throughout the camp, the prevalent Covid-19 SOPs will be observed.

During the camp, the players will work on their fitness and cricketing skills with a special emphasis on their preparation for the hectic white-ball international cricket season which begins next month.

White-ball players returning from the West Indies will be asked to join the camp after a few days of rest.

White-ball players to participate in the camp:

Arshad Iqbal (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Danish Aziz (Sindh), Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Haris Rauf (Northern), Hussain Talat (Southern Punjab), Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Imad Wasim (Northern), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan), Khushdil Shah (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper)(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh), Mohammad Nawaz (Northern), Mohammad Wasim Jnr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Salman Ali Agha (Southern Punjab), Shadab Khan (Northern), Sharjeel Khan (Sindh), Sohaib Maqsood (Southern Punjab).

Additional players to help during net sessions and practice matches:

Abrar Ahmed (Sindh), Ahmed Bashir (Central Punjab), Imran Randhawa (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Ilyas (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Muhammad Akhlaq (Central Punjab), Raza Ali Dar (Central Punjab), Rohail Nazir (Northern), Zeeshan Ashraf (Southern Punjab).

Camp schedule – first week:

22 August – Scenario-based 50 over practice match

23 August – Fitness and Strength and Conditioning session in the afternoon

24 August – Scenario-based 50 over practice match

25 August – Skill practice session

26 August – Fitness, Strength and Conditioning session in the afternoon

27 August – Scenario-based 50 over practice match

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 20, 2021 (PPI-OT):The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced coaches for the 42 sides across six Cricket Associations for the 266-match 2021-22 domestic season.

The appointments have been made after carrying out a 360-degree comprehensive performance review process, keeping in view the needs of the upcoming players across all rungs of the game and to further upskill the coaches by challenging them in different environments. A number of coaches who had favourable performance assessments are rewarded with promotions, while some coaches have been awarded the opportunity to step up to head coaching at various levels.

The coaches were primarily assessed around two key objectives

Putting their team in contention to win

Development of players

After leading Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to all three titles – Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, National T20 Cup and Pakistan Cup – in the 2020-21 season, former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has been tasked with leading the coaching staff of Central Punjab’s First XI, which includes former Pakistan internationals Akram Raza and Humayun Farhat – both promoted to First XI from Central Punjab’s Second XI coaching set-up – as assistant and fielding coaches.

Shahid Anwar, who coached Central Punjab First XI in the last season, has been appointed as the head coach of Southern Punjab First XI. His staff includes Aizaz Cheema and Irfan Fazil as assistant and fielding coaches.

For the 2021-22 domestic season, Abdul Rehman has moved to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after heading the Southern Punjab coaching staff. The seasoned coach is joined by Riffatullah Mohmand and Muhammad Siddiq as his assistant and fielding coaches.

Ijaz Ahmed Jnr is appointed as the head coach of Northern’s First XI team. Ijaz, a former international batter with more than 13,000 runs and 171 scalps in first-class cricket, has coached Central Punjab First XI in the 2019-20 domestic season. He is joined by former Pakistan fast bowler Samiullah Niazi, who was the assistant coach of Central Punjab First XI last season, and Fahad Akram, who earns promotion to Northern First XI after serving as assistant coach of the Cricket Association’s U19 team last season, as a fielding coach.

Former Pakistan batters Basit Ali and Faisal Iqbal will continue in their roles as head coaches of Sindh and Balochistan First XI teams.

At Sindh, Mohammad Masroor replaces Iqbal Imam, who moves to Southern Punjab Second XI as a head coach, as the assistant coach and Hanif Malik, last season’s Sindh U19 assistant coach, has earned a promotion and will be the fielding coach of the First XI team.

Balochistan’s assistant coach, along with the head coach of Southern Punjab’s U19 and U16 sides, will be appointed following a merit-based, robust recruitment process. Hussain Khosa will continue as Balochistan First XI’s fielding coach.

The 360-degree review process was carried out by Grant Bradburn, the head of high performance coaching at the National High Performance Centre, following which he submitted his recommendations to Director – High Performance, which were subsequently approved by the Chief Executive.

Grant Bradburn: “It is very important that we continue to upskill our coaches by providing them constructive feedback regularly, while challenging them in different environments, which we are hopeful will continue to grow our coaches to become contenders for Pakistan roles in the future.

“This will not only help us in boosting our pool of Pakistan coaching candidates, but also develop strong self-reliant players by learning from multiple coaches who are ready to take on different challenges from the early stages of their careers.

“Abdul Razzaq had a fantastic debut season as a head coach and as such he has been asked to take up the coaching role of the Central Punjab’s side. This move will bring new challenges for Razzaq and I have no doubts that he will embrace them.

“The same logic was behind our decision to appoint Shahid Anwar and Abdul Rehman, who are the two experienced, valuable assets in our coach pathway, with the Southern Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sides, respectively. Under the guidance of Shahid, Central Punjab scripted one of the most incredible tales in first-class cricket by staging an epic comeback in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to share the silverware with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Under Rehman, Southern Punjab played the final of the National T20 Cup after putting up a miraculous run-chase in the semi-final and he had been with the side for two years.

“Basit Ali and Faisal Iqbal coached the First XI teams for the first time in the last season and have been given another season with Sindh and Balochistan as they continue to build their sides. We remain invested in supporting them, while they establish themselves as coaches who can create a winning environment, while exposing our players to rich learning.”

Director – High Performance Nadeem Khan: “I want to congratulate everyone who has been appointed as a coach for what promises to be an exciting and action-packed 2021-22 domestic cricket season. These merit-based appointed have been made after considering the demands of our ever-evolving sport.

“Many coaches have earned promotions based on their performances in the 2020-21 season. As it is the case for the cricketers, this set-up also provides a clear pathway to the coaches to graduate to the top-level as we continue to strive to develop a strong pool of coaching staff.

“This year, there is also an increase in the number of coaches at the domestic level with every Cricket Association fielding two U19 and U16 teams. This move will continue to generate opportunities for former cricketers, after we appointed coaches for the 93 City Cricket Association teams, to remain attached to the game by taking up coaching roles, which is in harmony with our objective to create more and more employment opportunities for our former cricketers.

“To further challenge our coaches at the top-level, we have shuffled the First XI coaching panel. As it was promised last year that the PCB will continue to benefit from Ijaz Ahmed Jnr’s vast experience, he has returned to First XI coaching set-up as the head coach of Northern after that position was vacated by Muhammad Wasim following his appointment as the chief selector of our national men’s side.

“I am hopeful that these changes will further enhance the quality of cricket at top-tier and we will continue to expand and strengthen our pool of coaches.”

The team managers will be announced in due course.

Cricket Association coaches (2021-22 domestic season)

Balochistan

First XI – Faisal Iqbal (head coach), To be appointed (assistant coach), Hussain Khosa (fielding coach)

Second XI – Habib Baloch (head coach), Shoaib Khan (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Aslam Sheikh (head coach), Mazhar Deenari (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – Hussain Khosa (head coach), Aqil Baloch (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Raj Hans (head coach), Sher Hassan Jogazai (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – Shoaib Khan (head coach), Qamar din (assistant coach)

U13 – Aman ullah Dehpal (head coach), Barkat Ali (assistant coach)

Central Punjab

First XI – Abdul Razzaq (head coach), Akram Raza (assistant coach), Humayun Farhat (fielding coach)

Second XI – Wasim Haider (head coach), Aamir Sajjad (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Humayun Farhat (head coach), Khurram Shehzad (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – Muhammad Ashraf (head coach), Ashraf Ali (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Muhammad Ashraf (head coach), Intikhab Alam (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – Humayun Farhat (head coach), Mansoor Amjad (assistant coach)

U13 – Khurram Shehzad (head coach), Faisal Khan (assistant coach)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

First XI – Abdul Rehman (head coach), Riffatullah Mohmand (assistant coach), Muhammad Siddiq (fielding coach)

Second XI – Aftab Khan (head coach), Muhammad Aslam Qureshi (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Saqib Faqir (head coach), Muhammad Siddiq (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – Sajid Shah (head coach), Shoaib Khan (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Muhammad Siddiq (head coach), Saqib Faqir (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – Jamaluddin (head coach), Waqar Ahmed (assistant coach)

U13 – Waqar Ahmed (head coach), Ahmed Said (assistant coach)

Northern

First XI – Ijaz Ahmed Jnr (head coach), Sami Ullah Niazi (assistant coach), Fahad Akram (fielding coach)

Second XI – Fahad Masood (head coach), Afaq Raheem (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Hafiz Majeed (head coach), Fahad Akram (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – Kamran Khan (head coach), Jawad Hameed Haq (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Saeed Anwar Jnr (head coach), Tahir Mehmood (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – Raheel Majeed (head coach), Hafiz Majeed (assistant coach)

U13 – Mujahid Hameed (head coach), Haseeb Azam (assistant coach)

Sindh

First XI – Basit Ali (head coach), Mohammad Masroor (assistant coach), Hanif Malik (fielding coach)

Second XI – Ghulam Ali Ansari (head coach), Zafar Iqbal (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Azam Khan (head coach), Hanif Malik (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – Tahir Mehmood (head coach), Syed Mohtashim Ali (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Zafar Iqbal (head coach), Asim Rizvi (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – Saeed Bin Nasir (head coach), Naeem Tayyeb (assistant coach)

U13 – Rizwan Qureshi (head coach), Abid Ali Qureshi (assistant coach)

Southern Punjab

First XI – Shahid Anwar (head coach), Aizaz Cheema (assistant coach), Irfan Fazil (fielding coach)

Second XI – Syed Iqbal Imam (head coach), Zahoor Elahi (assistant coach)

U19 Red – Bilal Ahmed (head coach), Azhar Shafiq (assistant coach)

U19 Blue – To be appointed (head coach), Irfan Fazil (assistant coach)

U16 Red – Zulfiqar Babar (head coach), Rehan Rafiq (assistant coach)

U16 Blue – To be appointed (head coach), Bilal Ahmed (assistant coach)

U13 – Masood Anwar (head coach), Aamer Atta (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