Pakistan coach to train Chinese

Pakistan has appointed a coach to train budding cricketers in China as part of a joint effort by the International Cricket Council and the Asian Cricket Council to give a fillip to the sport in the country.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed well-known cricketer Rashid Khan as coach to train the young Chinese players, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan said.

Shaharyar, who also heads the ACC, said: "They start with a disadvantage of no heritage. There is no tradition of playing cricket in China. This is a big minus.

"They (the Chinese) don't know who Bradman was. If you don't know who Bradman was or who Gary Sobers was, how are you going to play cricket?," he said, after the ACC teamed up with the ICC to provide a special fund of US $400,000 to build cricket infrastructure in China.

Khan said the Chinese are determined to overcome the disadvantages and emerge a major cricket-playing nation.

He said Rashid would coach China's under-15 team, which is scheduled to participate in the ACC Trophy, to be held in Thailand in December this year, for the first time.

Khan, who is part of the ICC and ACC delegation to get first hand information on the efforts being taken by the communist country to popularise cricket, urged the Chinese Cricket Association (CCA) to expose their teams to international competitions.

Pakistan is also planning to send its school team to China and the CCA could think about sending a Chinese school-level team to Pakistan, he said.

Khan also suggested that the CCA gives emphasis on raising a Chinese women's cricket team.

ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said international cricket authorities are backing a 10-year development programme for the sport in China but no one should expect results overnight.

"Cricket in China is still very new and this funding from our two bodies is directed at strengthening the development structure for cricket as established by the state sporting administration," he said.

Speed noted that within a year Chinese sports authorities have done tremendous work to promote cricket.

"The Chinese could do well in cricket as it needs skills, tactics and team work," chairman of CCA and director of the Multi-ball Games Administrative Centre, Zhang Xiao-ning said.

"We are more than happy to further co-operation with international cricket bodies to promote cricket in China and raise the standard of the sport in our country," Zhang said.

In the past one year, cricket has been promoted in over 64 schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dalian. Over 6,500 students received cricket training under

physical education and over 51 teams have been formed, he said.

During the last 12 months, more than six training courses were offered to local physical education teachers by the ACC.