LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Managing Director Wasim Khan on Sunday asserted that the structure of domestic cricket needed to be improved for achieving consistency in performance.

PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and Khan held a joint press conference in Lahore where they acknowledged that the national team’s performance was unsatisfactory at the international level, particularly Test cricket.

“Our actual problem is at the grassroots, in the system,” Khan said while emphasizing on the importance of domestic cricketing structure.

“The system isn’t strong, and we know that because of the result we are seeing, the inconsistency we are seeing,” he went on to say.

The PCB MD said that the body would consult stakeholders and do their best to provide this strength.

He maintained that the restructuring would pose a challenge since a number of departments and regions are embedded within it.

“There is no sustainability in our success at an international level, so we are not looking at a short-term solution, we are looking at it for the long-term,” Khan asserted.

“The system has been build up over many, many years, and you don’t break a system down overnight,” he said.

“I want to make the PCB into a professional organisation run by professional people,” Mani said.

“These kind of people will help us run smoothly. This can only help the board. We aim to make the PCB into an organisation that others aspire to follow.

“Wasim was involved in a superb grassroots development initiative in the UK as its CEO,” said Mani.

“Thousands of schoolchildren, including girls, were introduced to cricket by Wasim. That is the kind of development that we want to have over here. He is a graduate of the Warwick University, which is one of the finest business schools in the world.”

What can be a bigger endorsement for Pakistan cricket that someone like Wasim has joined us,” said Mani. “What we are paying him is much less than what he was making there but he wanted to help cricket here. He is recognised by the UK government and has been rewarded an MBE, so it’s great that someone like that has come to Pakistan to serve.”

I have always supported Pakistan. I was in the stands when we won the Champions Trophy in England. I want to This is where my loyalty lies; if I wanted comfort and security then I would have stayed in England but I wanted this challenge.