Berhampur: The Ganjam District Cricket Association is organising a selection camp for the Kalahandi Cup Senior Inter-District Cricket Tournament and Under-16 Championship in Cuttack in June.

The camp that began on May 23 at Berhampur Stadium here will conclude on May 29.

Former Ranji player Susant Rath, who represented Odisha in the 1990s and was selected in the U-19 Odisha team, attended the camp as selector. He said despite 85 players taking par, only two or three had the talent. "It is because the younger generation lacks focus. When I was studying in Khallikote College, the cricket atmosphere was good and it was flourishing in Ganjam," he said.

Association president Ramesh Chandra Patra said the lack of infrastructure such as good fields, facilities such as coaching and training to budding talents and irrational attitude of the Odisha Cricket Association had hit the sport in Ganjam. "Unnecessary legal tangles and poking of some vested interests has pushed back the development of cricket here," he said.

All 11 players that formed Odisha's first Ranji Trophy in 1949 hailed from Ganjam. It was the nerve centre of cricket in Odisha, he said.

"But we are determined to boost cricket. We will select 18 players for the senior and 18 for the Under-16 team," Patra said.