Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has launched the AH Kardar Cup National Under-16 Schools’ Cricket Championship. The nationwide tournament is the largest ever such exercise in country’s sporting history with as many as 9000 school going kids from public and private schools involved in the initiative set to run for some three months. PCB chairman Shaharyar Mohammad Khan, PCB chairman executive committee Najam Sethi, PCB director game development Aized Syed and vice-chancellor Beaconhouse National University Shahid Kardar, who is son of Pakistan’s first-ever Test captain (late) Abdul Hafeez Kardar, collectively unveiled the glittering tournament trophy here on Monday. “The trophy is the PCB’s tribute to the legendary Kardar who made a big impact as a player, captain and later as a cricket administrator in Pakistan’s formative years,” Shaharyar told media at the launching ceremony.

Shaharyar and Sethi applauded the launch of the initiative and stressed on the importance of cricket at the grassroots level which was likely to yield long term results and provide an exciting talent pool that could graduate to international cricket in due course.

The duo said that the initiative was a continuation of the PCB’s commitment of spreading cricket far and wide besides tapping into young talent at an early stage.

Shahid thanked the PCB for acknowledging the services of his father. ” I hope that the tournament will add to the legacy of Abdul Hafeez Kardar since he always wanted to leave a lasting impression on the game in the country and the tournament is a befitting way of honouring his services,” he maintained. The tournament trophies have been donated by Shahid while he also announced a prize of Rs.100,000 for the Best Player of the Tournament.

Aized briefed the media about the tournament’s structure, format, schedule and the goals that the PCB had envisioned through this initiative. The tournament begins on April 5 with regional matches across Lahore, and followed by other regions. By April 21, all 21 cities will be engaged with simultaneous matches all across the country.