Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif is to play a major role in the inception of three academies in England designed to help young, working-class Asian cricketers.
Latif has managed his own academy in Karachi since 2000, and Asian cricket leaders in the UK have asked him to help set up similar schools of excellence in London, Birmingham and Luton.
“I visited the UK last week to meet with some Asian cricket leaders who knew about the good we are doing with our academy,” the former Test wicket-keeper, 35, told BBC Sport.
"We toured England a couple of seasons back and the discipline of the players impressed some people, and back then they wanted me to help out with a similar set-up in England.
“I couldn’t then because I was playing for Pakistan. Now I can concentrate full-time on my own academy and do some work in England when I am there in the summer playing league cricket in Ilford and for Lashings.”
While the academies would be aimed at young Asians, Latif said they would be open to anybody who could not afford to fund their own training at other, fee-based establishments.
There will be no fees for participants. Instead, corporate sponsorship and government assistance will be relied upon to get the them off the ground.
"Some cricketers in England have wanted to come over to Karachi and spend the off-season with us because of the difference in pitches and conditions, but we don’t yet have the facilities or accommodation for them as well.
"But they will now be looked after in England. If they have no money then it is possible for them to join us. We want to help the people and allow the poor to play cricket.
"We are working with famous companies in the UK and the sports minister to obtain the best facilities, like outdoor and indoor venues.
“We hope to launch the academies mid-to-late summer but it could take some time.”
Latif has seldom strayed from the headlines since he was dropped in September last year after stepping down from the captaincy.
A staunch anti-corruption campaigner, Latif claimed a one-day match between India and Pakistan recently had been rigged and caused a furore by submitting a letter to the International Cricket Council which said fixing was still rife.
He is also a vehement critic of the Pakistan Cricket Board and its selection panel, which he publicly chastised for disposing of him just six months after cajoling him out of retirement to take the captaincy.
Latif has promised to pull no punches in a book which he hopes will be published by September.
“We are still working on the book. It will be a bit different to the normal autobiographies that you read,” Latif reckoned. “Everything in the book regarding match-fixing and my career is against the system in Pakistan.”
Ehsan, why do you say he should concenterate on Pakistani cricket.
Surely some of our fellow british born pakistani's will benefit from this too?
and even if he is making a ££ from his efforts in the UK I say good luck to him. Afterall me and you are in the UK making our money. If we really really wanted to we could go to Pakistan and make our money there, yeah it wouldnt be much but we could.
So I say if he setting up academies in the UK good luck to him
Even in the UK, he will look for people originally belonging to Karachi. The guy is a prejudiced shmuck and too big a politician to be doing any such work sincerely.
You are the guys that sound prejudiced to me. If i recall this was the guy who went out of the way to get Inzi back in the side. Last i checked Inzi hailed from Multan
Also would you guys be kind enough to elaborate on how many people from Karachi did he incorporate into the Pakistan team?
Even in today's team we hardly have anyone from Karachi. I don't mind the fact but if you have talented folks then they should be included in the team regardless of where they hail from. Unfortunately that has never been the selection policy for Pakistan
He put his job on the line by blowing the whistle. Not sure many people have such convictions. At least this Karachiite did not sell his country's honor by fixing matches like Waseem and Salim
If you want to look at politicians in the team then the list is LONG and includes the likes of Imran, Zaheer, Wasim, Waqar, Javed and so on.
The last time I checked, Karachiites are still Pakistanis, so anyone doing anything for Pakistanis anywhere is okay by me. Besides, Latif doesn't look like the prejudiced kind.
I have personally talked to him, and he stated that “yeh punjabis mulk ka baira gharaq karrahay hain, har jaga even cricket mein bhi”. Please do note that it’s a quote, and I’m not making this sht up. This is the guy who promised to “tell all” in his autobiography to make a few cheap bucks. This is the guy who has always openly favored running academies for players from Karachi instead of working for the betterment of the entire country. This is the guy who cried and whined to Chacha Altaf when he was kicked out of the team. This is the guy who claimed the most blatant false catch, and got banned and was forced to retire for it. This is the guy who was a pathetic batsman and couldn’t play pace bowling for his life initially in his career.
I have more, but I think you get my drift. Really.*
^^ I have heard the same about Latif (his problem with Punjabis) but let's not touch that issue on this board yaar, there is enough ethnicity crap on politics sections of this forum so let's keep this topic away as we are all here to support Pakistan.
Rashid is sincere to pakistan cricket and as someone said if he helps Karachi players, it's gonna help Pak cricket so who cares :)
Yaar Mysterious, that’s the problem. He is not sincere to Pakistani cricket; he is sincere to Karachi cricket. If it was upto him, Sami would have never been dropped (and God knows he has bowled sht for the past three years), which is completely unfair to someone from Pindi, for example, performing well. He has been a big advocate of creating groups based on one’s ethnicity, and that cannot be good for any team representing one nation. I would not want my kid coached to potentially play for the country someday by someone with that mentality. I hope the UK’ers ignore this politician and find better academies to send their kids to.
P.S: I respect each and every ethnicity and people of all provinces in Pakistan. As a matter of fact, I was born in Karachi so you can’t judge me as being biased against people from that city.*
He went to AH because he was kicked out on ethnicity basis by Saleem Malik (I blv) who happens to be worst sportsman nationalist. Just wanted to point out a fact, not necessarily to defend his action :D
did you say same for Imran’s Cancer hospital that it will only admit ppl from punjab? …i wonder why Rashid? some ppl never learn, do they?
o bhai dafa karoo ethnicity issue ko waisey hee kum gham hain zamaney main, some kids (ok…some karachites) will get something out of the academy… thanda pani peo!!!
Why do we always have to include ethnicity bull crap. Even if he is the biggest ethnicist, racist, or nationalist, atleast he is doing something constructive. Even if is exclusively for Karachi people, but still he is doing something for the betterment of someone. Atleast he is better than those A$$holes who would kill anyone for few bucks or who can sell their country.
Instead of pointing out negatives, we should concenrate on pointing good deeds which are already a rarity in our society.
^^ I agree, i think most of us are naturally biased towards our own people so no one should have guts to complain. I think Latif has been an honest person (catch against bang being an exception) and he has helped Pakistan cricket by setting up academy (he wasn't too bad keeper either).
He is so blatantly in favor of Karachi and in opposition to Punjab that it puts me to shame that such a lying, hypocritical politician represented my country in a game that is loved by millions of my countrymen. Really.
