LAHORE: Lahore Gymkhana school T-20 cricket championship will be played here from tomorrow, Friday at four grounds.
This was stated by Khalid Ikram Malik, Convenor, Lahore Gymkhana cricket committee at a news conference Thursday to highlight the salient features of the event.Also present were, Javed Zaman Khan, Secretary, Lahore Gymkhana cricket club and Najam Latif, member of the organising committee of the tournament.Khalid said altogether sixteen teams including three girls will participate in the tournament which aims at promoting cricket at grass root level.
“It is the first time that we have included three girls teams in boys tournament and the participation of female teams will help in raising the standards of women cricket in Pakistan “,he said.The participating teams are drawn in four A,B,C and D pool and following is the formations of Pools, (Pool A), Kinniard red, Garrison women club, Govt Killa Lakshman Singh School, Garrison Academy school. (Pool B), Beacon house Johar town, Central model lower mall, Beacon house Canal view, Resource academia. (Pool C), City school, DPS school, Beacon House 45, Muslim Model high school.
(Pool D), Aitchison school, Govt high school chuburji, Lords international school, and Kinniard Blacks.The matches to be played on league will be held at Lahore Gymkhana bagh-e-Jinnah ground, Aitchison college Garrison school and DPS school ground.Khalid Ikram said the winner of the event will get Rs 25000, runner up Rs 15000, and third position holder Rs 10000 with special prize of man of the tournament Rs 10000 and man of the match award of Rs 1000 for each match.The final will be played on october 26 at Bagh-e-Jinnah ground.Javed Zaman said due to paucity of time and tight schedule of the tournament the organisers opted for T-20 format instead of one-day format.
“School boys are the learning stage and they need to play longer version of the cricket to groom their skills and to improve in the game and next time we will be having a full fledged tournament to polish their skills “,he said.Khalid Ikram said the tournament will be made a regular annual feature as Lahore gymkhana wanted to play its due role in the development of cricket specially at grass root level.“ Schools are the institutions which serve as the nurseries to identify talent and to groom it under long term planning and there is dire need to revive school cricket in order to widen the base of the game “,he added. – APP
