Yorkshire announce partnership with Lahore Qalandars in an effort to ‘nurture talent’

Yorkshire County Cricket Club has been dealing with massive racism crisis since a while. Former player Azeem Rafiq alleged institutional racism at the club, after which Roger Hutton, club’s former chairman, had to resign. After his departure, Lord Kamlesh Patel was appointed as the new chairman of the club.

Patel dismissed the entire coaching staff, including former England pacer Darren Gough. Gough, however, was later appointed as the interim director of cricket at the club. Yorkshire has released an advertisement for head coach, assistant coach, 2nd XI coach and academy coach roles in the last week, as well as inviting applications for up to six new non-executive directors “who are representative of the communities the club serves [and] are committed to the board’s aim to tackle discrimination and racism”.

In a new move to nurture talent and reduce entry barriers in the Club, Yorkshire has completed a partnership with Pakistan Super League‘s Lahore Qalandars. Through this partnership, Yorkshire intends to “learn from and emulate” the Qalandars’ players development program (PDP), which has been providing opportunities to more than 150 young players annually to unearth new talents regardless of background.

The poster boy of the development program, Haris Rauf, will join Yorkshire as an overseas player next season. Rauf attended Qalandars trials in 2017 and bowled for the first time with the leather ball. He has represented Pakistan in 42 matches.

“The work the Lahore Qalandars do both on and off the pitch is remarkable and can serve as a benchmark for clubs around the world – ours included – for how best to spot, foster and support talent at all levels in the game of cricket,” Patel said.

Yorkshire and Qalandars to play a friendly game next year

The partnership between both the teams will also see them going against each other in a friendly game on January 16 next year. Qalandars’ academy players will be given opportunities to train overseas, and aspiring players from both the clubs will be provided with scholarships as part of an exchange programme. Qalandars signed Yorkshire’s brightest prospect Harry Brook last week in the players draft.

Rauf would be the second Asian player in Yorkshire after Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined the county team in 2018. In his testimony to a parliamentary select committee, Rafiq mentioned that Pujara’s nickname was ‘Steve’, further stirring the controversy.

Meanwhile, Gough called Rauf an “exceptionally talented” bowler and was thrilled to have him in his team. He also mentioned that the partnership between both teams would be used to provide access to potential players in the future.

“For many people from a background like mine, cricket isn’t seen as an option, with the associated costs and access to facilities creating real barriers to entry. This partnership is an opportunity to take the blueprint the Qalandars have developed to such a success and work with them to define how that can be used to provide access for potential players from across Yorkshire,” Gough said.