THE Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently arranged a Level-IV (Stage-II) training programme for the coaches at the National Cricket Academy (NCA)in Lahore where top seventeen Pakistan coaches went through extensive training in specialised areas such as research, key elements of coaching structure, coaching master plan, performance measurement, personal attributes for effective coaching and financial management. The course was conducted by a renowned Australian Firm ‘Turner Campbell Consultancy’ and all the three instructors including Ross Turner, Alan Campbell and Ashleigh Byron were competent, knowledgeable professionals having vast experience in teaching and coaches development.

The five-day course was attended by Aaqib Javed, Kabeer Khan, Mohsin Kamal, Azam Khan, Sajjad Akbar, Waseem Haider, Ali Zia, Mansoor Rana, Shahid Anwer, Shoukat Mirza, Umer Rashid, Sabhi Azhar, Shahid Aslam, Mohtashim Rashid, Taimoor Azam, Abdul Rehman and myself.

After completing this course, the seventeen participants are now in the category of master coaches and should be considered among the top technocrats of the game.

When it comes to coaches development, I would like to take some credit and am proud to say that I am the pioneer of coaches development programme in Pakistan, by the God’s grace.

It was much later that the PCB took over this responsibility, in 2004 to be precise, to groom and develop coaches. Since then, they have been doing quite a good job of it and I am happy that I am part of this pathway of coaches development by the PCB.

It is very encouraging that the current PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has a definite vision and commitment towards cricket development and the recently-held Level IV coaches course is a proof of that.

Ironically, however, the services of the seventeen coaches who took part are unlikely to be utilised at the top level. Only one or two among them are working at the planning stage but the rest are reduced to being field workers and, unfortunately, end up following the instructions of non-technical and non-professional people in the circuit.

This situation must be tackled by the PCB without delay. For example, Wasim Akram conducting a fast bowlers’ development camp at NSK these days is a great idea indeed, but this is an ideal opportunity to attach at least two master coaches with him to get the best results out of the project. These master coaches can develop a specialised training programme for these fast bowlers in the light of Wasim’s coaching tips and the guidelines that he is providing to them.

Wasim is a cricket icon and his tips and advice will be invaluable for the young pacers. But it is also a fact that he cannot develop a training programme. It is, indeed, a job of trained coaches. Most of us know and agree that the times are changing and change is a key word in today’s world. The game of cricket is also experiencing all sorts of changes! People are fed up with old, orthodox styles and techniques. This is the era of T20 cricket where we need innovations to survive.

I would like to take this opportunity to suggest to the PCB chairman to take some urgent, bold decisions and utilise the services of this group of 17 technocrats at the top level to bring them into the mainstream where decisions are being made. I am sure Pakistan cricket will soon see the difference.

I would like to quote a relevant incident on the subject which shows the approach and the working of the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) and its president.

Recently, the KCCA president wrote a letter to the PCB, asking the Board to sack one of the head coaches of the Karachi region from its panel of coaches. The letter totally lacked logic and was simply written to settle some personal grudge against the official.

Interestingly, under the same head coach, KCCA won the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy and the national one-day championship this season which created history of sorts. The man should have been rewarded for this performance but instead, the KCCA wants him to be sacked. I am sure the PCB will not consider the absurd request.

The writer is a former Test cricketer and coach

jalal_coach@hotmail.com