Former captains stress on strengthening domestic, junior cricket

Mumbai, Apr 6 (UNI) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meeting with seven former captains to review India's debacle in the World Cup saw the latter stressing the need to strengthen the structure of domestic and junior cricket in the country.

The BCCI stated that the former cricketers gave ''good and valuable'' suggestions to revive the team's fortunes.

The meeting, which lasted two-and-half hours, was attended by BCCI's top office-bearers and seven former captains -- Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Chandu Borde, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, S Venkatraghavan, Ravi Shastri and K Srikkanth.

Among the main recommendations made by the former captains was to ensure the participation of international cricketers in major domestic tourneys. This could be done by adjusting the international calender so that about six to eight weeks in a year are available for domestic cricket.

The former captains also recommended supporting the junior cricketing structure by providing good wickets and umpires as this is from where the future international stars would emerge.

They also asked the BCCI to ensure that the domestic matches are played on sporting and lively wickets which are prepared under the supervision of members of the Pitch Committee. The captains also suggested that matches of senior tournaments should by alloted by the BCCI instead of the existing home and away rotation policy.

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