Local curators have let us down, says PCB official

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has charged a team of curators with letting the board down in so far as preparing bouncy tracks across the country is concerned.

Karachi, Dec 24 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has charged a team of curators with letting the board down in so far as preparing 'bouncy' tracks across the country is concerned.

The Board was expecting its team of curators to come up with 90 sporting wickets by October this year, but the standard of the tracks prepared by them was 'once again quite disappointing' ; said a PCB official.

"We wanted to have fast and bouncy tracks at various centres of the country for the current domestic season. A plan was made and given to the team of curators, but they have failed to deliver, "Shafaqat Naghmi, the PCB's COO, said.

The current domestic season is underway and according to experts most of the wickets used for the under-progress Quaid-e-Azam Trophy are far from sporting tracks. "Some of the wickets have become so lifeless, that after few matches that 'even you and I can score centuries on them, " said an official.

Naghmi said that the Board's top officials are convinced that local curators are not competent enough to prepare the bouncy wickets.

The Board is now planning to get 'foreign help' to prepare lively tracks for the next season.

Mudassar Nazar, Director of the PCB's National Cricket Academy, will help the Board hire an experienced English curator in a bid to successfully carry out the plan next year.

"Mudassar is currently on vacation in England where he will hire the services of a curator. That person will teach our curators and help them prepare bouncy tracks," said Naghmi.

The Board, meanwhile, is preparing to take appropriate action against local curators. Naghmi said that because of their below-par performance, the Board is unlikely to increase the salaries of the curators under its employment.

The performance of the PCB staff is reviewed annually and they get an increment every June based on their performance. Agha Zahid, a former Test cricketer, is the Board's head curator.

ANI