Domestic season to begin with T20 Cup

In a first, PCB unveils entire domestic calendar in advance

KARACHI: The domestic cricket season will kick off on August 25 with the National T20 Cup, which will feature only eight teams compared to last year’s 18, as per the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) newly unveiled cricket calendar.

The PCB has for the first time announced the domestic calendar for the 2016-17 season in advance, with several changes made to its formats to make the competitions more competitive.

The PCB, as was the norm, used to divulge the details of domestic competitions just a month or two before their start, but the newly formed domestic committee has decided to change old habits by unveiling the dates for the entire season.



The schedule, which was drafted by the committee on the recommendation of the Domestic Cricket Department, has already been sanctioned by the PCB’s Board of Governors.

Following the aforementioned T20 curtain-raiser will be the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship, which will commence from October 1 on the existing format, with two pools of eight teams each participating in the first phase.

Meanwhile, the Inter-region U19 three-day and one-day events will be played simultaneously from August 30 to October 14.



Elsewhere, the National One-Day Cup for eight departmental teams will be held between December 17 and 31, while the same tournament for the eight regional outfits will be staged from January 8 to 27.

The calendar also mentions the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade-II tournament, which will begin on March 1, whereas the Patron’s Trophy Grade II competition will kick off three days later.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2016.

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