Cricket: Domestic season gets underway from Oct 3

The PCB has once again reverted to this format – separating regions from departments – as it strives to improve the state of domestic cricket.

The PCB has once again reverted to this format – separating regions from departments – as it strives to improve the state of domestic cricket. A board official confirmed that the scheduling will be finalised once  PCB Director-General Javed Miandad returns from Sri Lanka.

The new structure will prove beneficial to UBL and HBL, as the lifeline has helped them avoid the drop. UBL were the lowest-ranked department in last year’s division-II and were relegated to grade-II, while HBL were relegated to division-II after finishing bottom among the departments in the Quaid Trophy.

There will be 10 departments in the Patron’s Trophy —PIA, ZTBL, NBP, HBL, UBL, KRL, SNGPL, Wapda, SBP and PQA. Each side will get nine  matches before the top two teams qualify for the final.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2012.