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Lahore:The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had awarded two-month contracts to curators who were previously employed by the 16 regions until 19 August 2019. Through an extension to that arrangement, the PCB has decided that it will make an additional two-month ex-gratia payment to these curators i.e. until 19 December 2019, following which the ground owners themselves will make a decision pertaining to their future employment at the respective grounds.
In this relation, the PCB has already contacted most of the curators to inform them of the decision, and their payments are expected to be transferred into their bank accounts very soon.
In 2010, the PCB had decided to pay the curators directly on behalf of the regions after it had received complaints of either delayed or reduced payments.
Meanwhile, a study carried out by the PCB Domestic Cricket Operations Department on the state and condition of the 63 grounds which were either developed or facilitated by PCB, has revealed staggering mismanagement and misuse of valuable funds, resulting in the current deplorable conditions of the grounds.
The audit exercise has further revealed 27 grounds were not fit to host any level of cricket matches, while barring a few, the remaining 36 grounds are also not up to the required standard to stage PCB-organised matches.
Similarly, at a number of grounds, matches have not been held in the last few years, while the investigations have also unearth cases of ghost employees.
Over the past five years, the PCB had provided funding of over PKR 317million to the 16 regions to manage these 63 grounds in terms of equipment, repairs and administrative expenses.
The following is the breakdown of funding provided to the 16 regions:
Office Staff (2014-2019) – PKR34,780,911
Ground staff (2014-2019) – PKR221,546,514
Equipment/maintenance (2015-2019) – PKR36,264,019
Office running expenses (2015-2019) – PKR24,760,076
Total cost – PKR317,350,620
As the 16 regions have ceased to exist following the promulgation of the new PCB Constitution on 19 August 2019, the PCB has decided it will no longer provide financial support for ground-related expenses.
The PCB has also decided these grounds will be handed over to the six Cricket Associations, who will be required to develop, maintain, manage and use them as ‘home’ venues in their respective jurisdictions.
In the meantime, the PCB advises all cricket ground owners (or those having legal rights in relation thereto) to approach the PCB directly for any assistance in terms of providing support through the provision of relevant equipment and/or grants for engaging ground staff.