ATF Southern Punjab Cricket Association

It was indeed a very historic moment as the England Cricket Team left the premises of Lahore and set foot in Multan for the first time in 17 long years to play a test. Not only was it a hiatus over for England but Multan itself hadn’t hosted a test match since 2006. Hence, the off-the-board excitement for the people of Multan was inevitable. Throughout the span of the test match that was held in Multan, amidst the reverse-swinging brilliance of Jimmy Anderson coupled with the resilient cover drives from Babar Azam, canopied by all the Baz-Ball noise, people from the City Of Saints made sure that all the visitors had a time that they would never forget.

A day prior to the test match the Chairman of SPCA Anees Khawaja had joined the England Cricket Team along with Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, and the SKY Sports Broadcasting Team to play a bit of Golf at the Rumanza Golf Course followed by a dinner he hosted in the honor of the PCB Chairman during which important board officials and media personnel from both the teams were present. Also during the dinner, the Chairman and CEO of SPCA met with John Carr, who is the Director of Operations for England Cricket, and discussed the prospects of more tours of England Cricket Teams to Pakistan.

The Day 1 of the Multan test match, proved to be fairly significant for the Pakistan Cricket Board as they signed a lease agreement with the District Government which officially gives them the acquisition of the Multan Cricket Stadium for the next 5 years.

Day 2 saw another important milestone being achieved in the shape of SPCA signing an agreement with Emerald Solutions Group in order to further upscale the SPCA 100 Best Program. Key personalities such as Chairman PCB Ramiz Raja, Chief Selector Mohammad Wasim, Board Member Hassan Hussain Qureshi, CEO SPCA Abdul Saboor as well as the leadership from Emeral Solutions Group were present during the signing. The Chairman and CEO of SPCA are grateful to Board Member Hassan Qureshi for playing a key part in materializing this agreement.

The following day also proved fruitful as Chairman SPCA met Chairman PCB and discussed future plans along with conveying to him the current issues that the administration is facing. The problems faced by people while making their entrance to the stadium were duly noted and are expected to be fixed soon enough.
On the same day, Ms.Zoe Wares who is the Political Councillor in the British High Commission also paid a visit to Ground-Up Girls Cricket Academy and interacted with the girls of the academy. She was particularly impressed by them and showed interest to the CEO of SPCA Dr.Abdul Saboor in enhancing future collaborations with the SPCA in order to promote female cricket.

Chairman SPCA also met with PCB BoD member, Arif Saeed and Chairman of the Somerset County Cricket Club, Sir Michael Barber, and talked in depth about how to further develop grassroots cricket in our region. In addition to that, the Chief Secretary who is also Chairman of CPCA Arif Sumbal also met the Chairman of SPCA, watched the test on Day 4, and discussed many matters of common interest at length such as what initiatives can be taken to promote cricket in the Southern Punjab region by developing more high-performance centers

Throughout the test match, the SPCA made sure that the guests were made to feel at home. From delicious meals to spectacular coffee arrangements for the British everything was duly taken care of!

Furthermore, our Chairman along with our Board Member, Taimur Malik went ahead and delved into the infamous group of fans, England's Barmy Army, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the company of their trumpet man, Mr.Simon. Recognizing the passion of this splendid group of fans, the Chairman hosted them for a meal to spend more time and get to know them better.
Unfortunately, the test match came to an early closure on day 4 as Pakistan lost to England, however, it resulted in an additional off day for the players who then again went with Chairman SPCA for a session of Golf.

| | | |

Uzair is an aspiring young kid and aims to represent his country at the international level one day!

| |

Throughout the span of the test match that was held in Multan, people from the City Of Saints made sure that all the visitors had a time that they would never forget.

The night prior to the test match being held in Multan, Chairman SPCA hosted a dinner in which board officials from both the PCB and ECB were invited as well as the media personnel including commentators and sports journalists.

| | |

In order to further promote grassroots cricket along with women's cricket in our region, the Southern Punjab Cricket Association has entered into an agreement with Emerald South Group, which is going to help our cause tremendously. The formal ceremony of handing over the coaching kit bags donated by Emerald Solutions Group was graced by the presence of Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ramiz Raja along with Chairman SPCA Anees Khawaja & CEO SPCA Abdul Saboor. We are thankful to Rolly Crawford & Anthony Rudd, Chairman and COO of Emerald Solutions Group – UAE.

Amongst the leadership, future collaborations were also discussed in order to further strengthen the women and club-level cricket in our region. We are also grateful for the cooperation of a Member of the Board of Directors, Hassan Qureshi & also Shahid Qureshi who is the Deputy Director of Operations APAC in assisting in getting this idea materialized.

| | | |

We have always aimed at creating more and more opportunities for the gender that has long been discriminated against and has always faced hurdles moving forward,especially in sports.
Hence, this year in order to achieve our objective, we took two extremely crucial initiatives to provide more cricketing opportunities for girls while simultaneously creating awareness for the annual United Nations campaign : 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.
The campaign lasted from 25/11/22 till 10/12/22 during which we carried out our mentioned initiatives.

| | | | |

Another future star developing under the umbrella of SPCA!

| |

England's Barmy Army certainly lit up the Multan Cricket Stadium with their presence and it was truly an honor for us to host such a terrific group of fans!

| | |

In an extremely closely fought test in Multan Cricket Stadium, England emerged victorious and defeated Pakistan in what has been nothing short of a spectacle for the fans here in Multan!

They now have an unassailable lead in the series!

| |

After 16 long years the drought of test cricket has finally come to an end in Multan!

We have taken another step in raising awareness for United Nations' campaign against gender-based violence and are extremely honored to have partnered with MG Apparel and GroundUp Sports to initiate GroundUp Girls Cricket Academy.

By providing them with the supervision of PCB-certified coaches, the Chairman and CEO of SPCA aim to provide a competitive environment under the right guidance for these girls to play cricket and improve their skills.

| | | |

Sadam Hussain's journey is also very inspirational as his childhood was spent in extreme poverty. He was very young when his father passed away which ended up aggravating his struggles in life. Eventually in order to make ends meet, Sadam managed his studies along with working two jobs. One as a waiter in a hotel at night while the other as a Cricket Coach for young children during the day.

Despite these hardships in life, Sadam didn't give up on his dream of making a career out of cricket and hasn't looked back since as a result of which he is an established wicketkeeper-batsman today at the divisional level. He has represented SPCA in U-16, and U-19 while also playing divisional cricket at the senior level.

Sadam aims to keep on working hard so that one day he can represent the Pakistan Cricket Team.

| |

In accordance with the annual International United Nations campaign for women empowerment that started on 25/11 and will continue for 16 Days displaying activism against gender-based violence, the ATF Southern Punjab Cricket Association in association with MG Apparel , Ali Tareen Farms (ATF), Lodhran Pilot Project (LPP) and Farmers Development Organization (FDO) carried out an exhibition match between South Stars and Multan Zakrians in which girls were selected to play after trials were held in Southern Punjab.

In order to encourage the independent travel for girls a motorbike was also awarded to the man of the match by SPCA supported by FDO.

Dr. Ehasham Anwer (Secretary schools’ education), Mr. Yousaf Filali (Director UNESCO), Mrs. Saba Anees (Director MG Apparel), Mr. Ghulam Mustafa (CEO FDO) and Dr. Abdul Saboor (CEO SPCA) were among the notable personalities who attended this awareness campaign.