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LAHORE: With the vision of becoming one of the top-performing and most credible cricket boards in the world, the Pakistan Cricket board today released its five-year strategic plan, which has been approved by the Board of Governors.

Captioned under Five-Year Plan to Inspire and Unify Our Nation, the document lays down strategic and corporate objectives, sets a straightforward course of action for the progress and enhancement of the national men's, women's and age-group teams and presents a clear pathway and structure for grassroots development. Underpinning the objectives will be a tracking system that will ensure that progress is robustly monitored on a monthly basis throughout the duration of the plan.

The work on the strategy commenced last year and already a number of significant strides have been made against the objectives set out.

The strategy has been put together with a key focus on the stakeholders of the game and bringing the fans closer to the game, with accountability, transparency, ethics and professionalism remaining at its core.

The six salient features of the strategy are: Sustainable Corporate Governance – will be underpinned by timely and effective planning and allocation of resources; Deliver World Class International Teams - ongoing investment into a merit-based domestic system and a focus on excellence in High-Performance Centres will help transform our international teams into consistent top class performers; Grassroots and Pathways Framework - providing opportunities and supporting the seamless transition of young and aspiring cricketers into the mainstream game; Inspire Generations Through our Women's Game - we will maintain a key focus on diversity and invest in our future cricketers to develop cricket champions across the nation.

Grow and Diversify Commercial Revenue Streams - we will set strategic, innovative and targeted commercial plans that will support the sustainability of the PCB and the Cricket Associations.

Enhance the Global Image of Pakistan - we will showcase Pakistan through the promotion of the HBL Pakistan Super League, sustainable home international cricket and by maintaining ongoing and close dialogue with other cricket boards around the world.

Each of the aforementioned strategies is divided into clear objectives and tactics. A senior manager will own one of the six strategic priorities and will be responsible for its execution, while a robust monitoring system with clear delivery timelines will track monthly progress.

Unveiling the strategy, PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan said: "We developed the five-year plan in 2019 and awaited sign-off by the Board of Governors. We are delighted that we received official sign-off in February this year and are now in a position to formally announce it. Delivery against key priorities for the 2019-2023 plan began last year and I am delighted to see the progress that we have already made across a number of areas.

"It was highly important that we developed a clear, exciting and achievable roadmap that provided clarity on our direction of travel, not only for all PCB staff but also the fans and its stakeholders.

"Strategic plans on paper achieve little unless individuals buy-into the vision, take ownership of the strategy and are held accountable for delivering. Our robust monitoring system will track progress in a timely way so as to ensure we remain focused on what we want to achieve.

"From 2019, the PCB has embarked on a thought through reform and transformation programme both on and off the field. Having clarity of purpose and being bold in your decision making are necessary in any change programme and we firmly believe that the strategic plan has already provided us with the impetus to move Pakistan cricket forward.

"The PCB has the potential and drive to be amongst the very top cricket boards in the world. This aspiration, with a commitment to action, will drive us on so that we can become consistently successful on the field and highly competent off it. It is exciting to think where we can be as a cricketing nation when we deliver this; over the last 12 months significant progress has already been made from where we started."

Some key achievements since February 2019: Implementation of PCB Constitution 2019; development of Cricket Associations and City Cricket Associations constitutions and their subsequent approvals by the Board of Governors; Restructuring of the domestic structure; Appointment of high-quality experts and coaches with the Pakistan national men's team; Whole of the HBL PSL in Pakistan, MCC tour to Pakistan after 48 years and the return of Test cricket after 10 years; Development of high performance system and restructuring of the PCB departments; and Appointment of Ehsan Mani as Chairman of the ICC's influential F&CA, Wasim Khan as member of the ICC Women's Committee, Salman Naseer as member of the ICC Safeguarding Panel, Sana Mir as member of the ICC Women's Committee.—NNI