LAHORE: Australia’s Tasma­nia state fast bowler Aaron Summers is all set to become the first foreign player to feature in next month’s Pakistan Cup one-day tournament by signing up for Southern Punjab.

According to a PCB press release, domestic competition rules allow one foreign player per side as long as the player submits a Non-Objective Certificate from his home board.

It may be mentioned here that the PCB had already limited the chances for Pakistani players by abolishing departmental and regional cricket to introduce a six-provincial team-based domestic cricket system from 2019, while leaving hundreds of departmental cricketers jobless and scores of other players denied chance of playing first-class cricket from eight regional cricket associations.

The critics of the revamped formula have the plea that with a population of 220 million, Pakistan should have more teams to accommodate maximum talented players. But the PCB is following Australia’s domestic cricket formula. The population of Australian is far less to Pakistan as it is around just 24.99 million.

“Summers will arrive in Lahore on Dec 28 and after a week-long training camp under Azhar Mahmood at the National High Performance Centre will join Southern Punjab in Karachi on Jan 5. Apart from Summers, Azhar, who has also been looped in for a short-term contract by Southern Punjab, will also work on Taimoor Bhatti, a 22-year-old rookie fast bowler from Rahim Yar Khan, who is yet to get domestic exposure,” the PCB stated.

Summers featured for Karachi Kings in the 2019 HBL Pakistan Super League and has also played for Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2020