Re: Pakistan hunt for bowling talent
Pepsi-PCB Pace Attack 2005 talent hunt moves ahead
by Staff reporter
The contest is currently being held in Faisalabad where some 700 young fast bowlers appeared on the first day of the 2-day camp of the PEPSI-PCB Pace Attack 2005 being held in Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.
Muhammad Talha was among the top bowlers of the day and clocked 81.9 mph followed by Dilawar Hasan and Naeem Ashraf who bowled with a speed of 81.5 mph and 81.2 respectively. The top 23 bowlers were selected to participate in the second round tomorrow to fight for the three top positions to take part in the final.
On 22 September, Nasir Ahmed, Mohammad Imran and Bilal Khan were selected from Peshawar after a two-day trial. They will appear in the final of the PEPSI-PCB Pace Attack 2005 to be held in Lahore.
Peshawar was the second venue for this speed contest for the countrywide search for fast bowlers jointly organized by Pepsi and PCB.
**More than 400 boys appeared **for the contest held at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Pesahwar on 22 September 2005.
Nasir Ahmed and Mohammad Imran clocked 84.6 mph and 80.6 mph respectively. The third bowler, Bilal Khan generated a speed of 79.1 mph.
The contest moves on next to Abbotabad.
Earlier, the city of Quetta played host to the start of the Pepsi-PCB Pace Attack 2005 talent hunt contest on 20th September 2005.
This countrywide talent hunt series of contests will culminate with the final to be held in Lahore on 16-17 October 2005. The pace attack talent hunt scheme is jointly organised by Pepsi and PCB.
This scheme is designed to find new fast bowling talent to be groomed to play for the Pakistan team when England tour Pakistan at the end of October and in future.
It was gratifying to see more than 300 bowlers appear for this first contest which was held at Bugti Stadium, Quetta.
Pace bowlers, Samiullah and Gauhar Faiz clocked 76.3 mph and 74.6 mph respectively. The third bowler, Irfanullah, who hails from Ustamabad, Nasirabad some 400 km away from Quetta, generated a speed of 73.3 mph.
Samiulah, Gauhar Faiz and Irfanullah have been selected from Quetta to take part in the final in Lahore.
The month long series of contests will be held in 10 cities namely, Quetta, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Hyderabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
The final will feature the 30 selected bowlers from these cities and the top six will join the Pakistan National Cricket camp for possible selection to play for the Pakistan team during the coming England tour which starts on 31 October 2005.
The "talent hunt" has begun... lets see what we get at the end of this exercise!