Around 250 ground staff, including curators, working at 88 cricket venues across Pakistan have not been paid for months. Their contracts were terminated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on December 19, 2019 when it introduced the new domestic structure and their services were handed over to district and regional associations who were to look after these grounds. The associations were running these venues, bearing the expenditures by letting private sector use them on rent two or three times, but because of the coronavirus virus there have been no cricket matches for many weeks which has left the associations unable to pay this workforce. The cricket organisers at grassroots level say the situation is alarming. They have asked the PCB to take notice of this situation, saying that otherwise these 88 grounds would be damaged and a large sum of money would be required to restore them. A video of a groundsman went viral on social media in which he is appealing to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani and CEO Waim Khan to do something for them, saying they have no means to arrange even food for their children. He says they have been waiting for salaries for months. Former first class cricketers say that this is the first setback caused by the abolition of previous domestic structure claiming the PCB must resolve this issue in collaboration with the associations.
Brian Sturgess
