PCB school talent hunt starts today: 1,400 schools, 21,000 players

The second season of the PCB Talent Hunt Programme for Schools starts today, Saturday 19 September, with the opening match at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore at 2pm between Beaconhouse School and Aitchison College.

The board has roughly tripled the programme since last year.

Entry to the opening match is free, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan performs at the close of play. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who ordered the expansion, is attending.

How a boy or girl actually gets in

This is the part parents ask about and the announcements usually skip. The route is through the school, not through the board.

1. The school registers. Participating schools are enrolled district by district. If your child's school is not on the list, the approach is to the regional cricket association for the district, not to PCB headquarters.
2. District and regional coaches run trials. These have been held through the season, with training camps in August and September.
3. Squads play the schools competition that starts today.
4. The best performers are moved into the PCB's age-group and pathways system, which is the underage structure that feeds into Under-16 and Under-19 sides and then into regional cricket.

The board says kits and playing equipment are being supplied to participating schools, and that alternative venues have been arranged for schools without their own ground, which has been the practical barrier in smaller districts.

Why 100 districts matters

Pakistan has produced most of its recent international cricketers from a narrow band of cities, and the districts outside that band have had no reliable route in. A programme that reaches 100 districts and 1,400 schools is the first structure in years wide enough to find a fast bowler in, say, Bahawalnagar or Nowshera who is not already known to a regional coach.

The pay-off is slow. A 14-year-old picked up this season is not in a Test side before the early 2030s. But the alternative, which is what Pakistan has been doing, is waiting for talent to find its own way to Lahore or Karachi.

What is on this weekend otherwise

The senior game has its own fixture list. Pakistan's women play Sri Lanka in the Asian Games semi-final at 5am PKT on Sunday 20 September, and the men enter the tournament on 28 September. Details and Pakistan times are in our Asian Games cricket schedule.

If you are heading to Gaddafi Stadium this afternoon, the ground is on Ferozepur Road near Liberty, and traffic on the Main Boulevard side is usually the constraint rather than the parking.