Imran Khan suggests a few radical changes to improve domestic cricket. He reinforces the majority view in cricketnama that ‘Shoaib Malik does not at this point command a place in the test team as a batsman’ but believes that Malik has the right cricketing brain and can raise his game with the added responsibility of leading the team :k:
The ongoing captaincy crisis should have been resolved far sooner than this, as the longer it is dragged, the worse it will be for Pakistan. But I am just told that after the rather unnecessary delay, Shoaib Malik is perhaps going to be appointed the captain today, or in a day or so.**Shoaib Malik has a good cricketing mind but to really earn the respect of his charges, he needs to command a place in the team as a batsman. That he doesn’t, at this point. And to deserve to be the captain of Pakistan, he would need to tighten up his technique, play closer to his body and score runs consistently. **At the moment this is the only drawback that I see in him. That said, there have been players who once elevated to the job of leading the team, improved their game. My batting certainly became a whole lot better once I became the skipper for I needed to lead by example. For the sake of Pakistan cricket, I hope that Shoaib succeeds, and I wish him all the best. **The worst situation is the present one of limbo that was sparked off by Younis Khan’s refusal to be the captain, citing the criticism on the World Cup failure for his backing out. To my mind, such reasoning is naive in the extreme. How can the players expect anything but criticism given that they have produced the worst ever result in a World Cup - by not just Pakistan but any major Test playing country? **And just as you accept accolades, so you should the criticism. How would a journalist or media person defend a team after the biggest disaster in Pakistan cricket’s history? Would not he lose credibility if he does? And it is not just the media, the public is incensed too. And rightly so, for they put the Pakistan cricketers on a pedestal and it hurts them when it caves in against no-hopers. Ups and downs are very much part of the game. But the champions are those who know how to face defeat, who do not make excuses and who analyse the setbacks better than others. If Pakistan is to benefit from this debacle, this exercise has to be conducted. I for one have no doubt in my mind why Pakistan cricket has hit rock bottom.
First and foremost, our domestic cricket structure stands completely exposed. Even Inzamam has finally said that domestic cricket should be competitive - something that I’ve been saying for 27 years. The analogy of two schools here would be quite apt. One has excellent facilities and quality teachers while the other has poor syllabus, no facilities and either absentee or poor faculty. Now even if you put the most intelligent boys in the second, we all know what the outcome would be.Those of us who have played in and against Sheffield Shield sides know that if Pakistan has done well internationally it is not because but despite our first class cricket. Just like, Pakistan economy has done well in recent time despite the government and not because of it. Those who have resisted change in our domestic cricket structure are cricketers and organisers either employed or directly benefiting from the departments. Thus, they have a stake in preserving the status quo. Every time I’ve spoken against this anomaly in Pakistan cricket where the sponsors are fielding their own teams - something that happens nowhere else in the world - a chorus of vested interest immediately comes to protect the prevailing farce that we dare to call a system.
If Dr Nasim Ashraf wants proper reform, no player who is benefiting from departments should be consulted about changes to the first class structure, for they need to be excluded because of a conflict of interest, as no way they can give an objective and fair assessment. The result of having a decadent and non-competitive structure is that - beaten by a non-Test playing Ireland and arguably one of the weakest sides in contemporary cricket, West Indies - Pakistan could not even qualify for the top eight in the World Cup.
All Pakistan cricket needs is only six first class teams, with all the national talent to be concentrated in these. These should divisional sides - established on the pattern of the old administrative divisions. And there should be another six teams in grade two and yet another six in grade three, with promotion and relegation pushing the two bottom sides to the tier below and the two winners elevated to the one higher. Only this would ensure that in order not to be relegated every side would fight for the best talent in the country. This would then ensure quality competition, in turn producing Test cricketers of a very high quality. The departments should be eliminated, and instead they should be asked to sponsor regional teams. This is really in the interest of the departments. Pakistan in my opinion has greater cricketing talent than any other country. The only way it can be polished and developed is through a competitive regional structure. The ongoing investigation into the World Cup disaster would be futile unless it is realised that the root cause is our domestic structure.
**Most importantly the Board now has billions of rupees in its coffers, yet its chairman is an unelected man vested with the authority to spend huge sums as he wishes. The situation clearly requires institutionalised, accountable decision-making. **Once you have these 18 teams with just six playing first class cricket, then the Board can have elected associations who then elect the chairman for only two years, which should be the absolute maximum. This would stop people perpetuating themselves for 20 to 30 years. This is not rocket science. And as Greg Chappell has only recently said in India’s context, you cannot have Zimbabwe’s systems and expect to be Australia of world cricket.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/apr-2007/19/sports1.php