K-P launches school cricket league

Peshawar Zalmi Foundation to organise matches

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government will sponsor the first cricket league at school level in Pakistan.

Matches between eight teams from Peshawar, Malakand Bannu and Hazara will start from December 26 and the final will be played at Hayatabad sports complex on December 29, Peshawar Zalmi Foundation Director Cricket Operation Muhammad Akram said.

“In order to promote sports, the incumbent government established playgrounds in 10,000 government schools,” said K-P Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Atif Khan.

He was speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understating (MoU) between Zalimi Foundation and Elementary and Secondary Education Department on Thursday, for organising Zalmi School League.

It will be Pakistan’s first school cricket league and third in the world after South Africa and Sri Lanka.

“This initiative will help in searching talent at grass root level,” Atif said.

He said that first there was concept of sports and playgrounds in ever government school, but with the downfall of the state of public sector education, these grounds too became abandoned.

Education minister congratulated Peshawar Zalmi Foundation owner Javed Afridi and his team to take this initiative and said that it will search out the talent of government schools children.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2017.