Ghany’s exploits in Pakistan
View(s):Ashroff Ghany, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket Umpires’ Association and an official of Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club visited Pakistan on
an invitation of Ameen Abbasi, the president of Eagles Cricket Club of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The invitation coincided with the 63rd Foundation Day of Eagles CC, which is one of the oldest cricket clubs of South Punjab, established in 1951.
Chairman of Eagles CC Aurangzeb Khan, an ex-first class cricket umpire who also conducted a couple of umpires’ workshops in Sri Lanka last year, stated that the visit of Ghany was an ideal opportunity to his Sri Lankan counterpart in getting to know the overall structure, set-up and in-place coaching and training of players and umpires in Pakistan.
During his two-week visit Ghany visited a number of cricketing facilities and took part in numerous training programmes, in addition to visiting cricket grounds and facilities of which he was much impressed by the organisation and coaching facilities of the Pakistan Customs Cricket Academy in Karachi. Ghany was accompanied by Khan and Abbasi, was welcomed by Mahbeeb Shah, a former Test cricket umpire and former Test cricketer Jalal-Ud-din, the first bowler to claimed a hat-trick in One Day Internationals against Australia in 1982 in Hyderabad, Jalal-Ud-din picked the wickets of Rodney Marsh, Bruce Yardley and Geoff Lawson and finished with figures of 4 for 32 as Pakistan won the match by 59 runs.
Last December Eaglets CC invited four cricketing stalwarts of Bloomfield Athletics and Sports Club for a programme where the intention was to exchange their expertise and ideas in cricket. The invitation came to Bloomfield officials Hirantha Perera, Jayantha Seneviratne, Rohan de Alwis and Ghany but only the latter was able to make the representation.