July 9, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 27,1423

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KARACHI, July 8: Quantity was preferred over quality when the Cricket Management Committee (CMC) of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Monday unfolded a complex domestic structure for the 2002-2003 season.

The CMC said nine tournaments would be staged in the coming season with a total of 444 matches in 199 playing days. The season will commence from Sept 1 and will conclude on May 18. There is a six-week Ramzan break in between.

Ironically, there are only two first-class tournaments — Super League and the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy — which will share just 86 matches between them, a poor 19.3 per cent of the total games. Needless to say that first-class matches are the backbone of every cricket structure anywhere in the world, except Pakistan.

To make things further disappointing, a player appearing in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy will not get more than seven first-class matches and that too if his team reaches the final. Failure of the team to reach the knockout stage would mean that a player will have to be content with only five matches.

The 25 teams in the Quaid Trophy, including 12 associations (Karachi and Lahore will field two teams each), 10 departments and a PCB Eleven, will be divided into four pools. Although the CMC has not elaborated the knockout format, it is believed that the top team from each pool will qualify for the semifinals.

Similarly, each of the four provinces in the Super League, to be competed only by the top cricketers of the country, will get a minimum of six games as the competition will be contested on double league.

The CMC defended its decision of merging departments and associations in one tournament, saying: “Large number of young and promising players will get a chance to play first-class cricket from respective associations and their talent will be tested out against departmental teams consisting of experienced bowlers and batsmen.”

But the CMC overlooked the fact that with the inclusion of PCB Eleven, which will consist players knocking at the doors of international cricket, and the departments, what will be the strength of the associations.

The associations will be deprived of fielding promising players who will be representing their departments. The departments will be left grieved because their best youngsters, who are paid throughout the year by their employers, would be picked for the PCB squad.

In this background, it is anybody’s guess what will be the quality of cricket when PIA will take on Dadu or Habib Bank will play Peshawar or Khan Research Laboratory (KRL) will face Rawalpindi or National Bank will play Multan.

Will the CMC take pains to explain who will gain from this mindboggling experiment? associations, departments or the PCB Eleven?

The PCB, introduced one fresh tournament and renamed two, scrapping its concept of provincial teams that played in the Quaid Trophy last year. It is estimated that more than Rs2.5million were spent on one province. At least, Rs10million were spent on four provinces last season with the end result being nil.

Can the cash-strapped PCB afford this luxury or will the officials be taken to task for experimenting this unusual concept of including provincial teams in the first-class tournament? Probably not because the idea was floated by individuals who are the blue-eyed boys of the present hierarchy.

Three non-first class tournaments — Kardar Trophy (previously known as Patron’s Trophy Grade-II), Cornelius Trophy (previously known as Quaid Trophy Grade-II) and PCB Trophy — will see 60 teams playing out 118 matches.

Top teams from Kardar and Cornelius Trophies will be promoted to Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. They will replace one bottom department team and one association side.

But while deciding this, the CMC has failed to explain how it will determine the bottom department and association team as there are four pools in the Quaid Trophy, which implies there will be at least four teams finishing last in their respective pools.

In the end, it will be a battle of who has more influence that will help his team to stay in the first-class competition and avoid the embarrassment of being relegated.

The CMC has given special preference to the renamed Patron’s Cup which was previously known as the National One-day Championship. But the confused CMC members have slotted the tournament between Feb 20 and March 11 — the time when the World Cup will be in progress in South Africa.

The CMC, while including the teams from every city of the country, is probably unaware of the fact that the PCB pays a daily allowance to all the associations during the competition. Has the PCB calculated how much it would end up paying daily allowances to 138 associations that have been included in the structure, the four provincial team not included.

There is no cash flow in the PCB coffers after the cancellation of various tours and series’. But still the officials preparing lavish and expensive structure which shows the professionalizm in the ranks of the PCB.

The following is the break-up of teams to play in various competitions:

UNDER-19 GRADE-I (three-dayers) (Sept 1-Oct 4): Lahore Whites, Lahore Blues, Karachi Whites, Karachi Blues, Bahawalpur, Sheikhupura, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Kohat, Fata, Islamabad.

UNDER-19 GRADE-II (three-dayers) (Sept 1-Oct 14): Sindh - Larkana, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Badin, Sukkur; NWFP - AJK, Mardan, Haripur, Bannu, D.I. Khan; Balochistan - Chaghi, Turbat, Sibi, Pishin; Punjab - Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Okara, Kasur, Sargodha, Attock, Jehlum, Sialkot, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Gujranwala.

UNDER-19 GRADE-III (two-dayers) (Sept 26-Oct 12): Sindh - Nawabshah, Jacobabad, Dadu, Thatta, Khairpur; NWFP - Swat, Northern Areas, Nowshehra, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Chitral, Charsada, Swabi; Balochistan - Kalat, Naseerabad, Loralai, Qilla Abdullah; Punjab - D.G.Khan, Rajanpur, Sahiwal, Vehari, Mianwali, Jhang, Hafizabad, Khanewal, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar.

KARDAR TROPHY (three-dayers) (Oct 9-Nov 2): ARL, Saga Sports, KESC, PTCL, Sui Gas, Pakistan Navy, PAF, UGC, PEB, Khairpur, Manshera, Chitral, Charsada, Swabi, Qilla Abdullah, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar.

QUAID-I-AZAM TROPHY (Dec 10-Feb 10): Lahore Whites, Lahore Blues, Karachi Whites, Karachi Blues, Sheikhupura, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Dadu, Peshawar, Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Habib Bank, PIA, Customs, ABL, KRL, NBP, ADBP, Servis Industries, Pak PWD, Wapda, PCB Eleven

CORNELIUS TROPHY (three-dayer) (Jan 21-Feb 24): Sindh - Nawabshah, Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Thatta; NWFP - Mardan, Nowshehra, Haripur, Fata, D.I.Khan, Kohat; Balochistan - Quetta, Naseerabad, Sibi, Pishin; Punjab - Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur, Islamabad, Okara, Mianwali, Attock, Gujrat, Jhang.

PCB TROPHY (two-dayer) (Feb 16-March 13): Sindh - Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Khairpur; NWFP - Swat, Northern Areas, Bannu, Abbottabad, Manshera, Chitral, Charsada, Swabi; Balochistan - Kalat, Turbat, Loralai, Chaghi, Qilla Abdullah; Punjab - Vehari, D.G Khan, Sahiwal, Kasur, AJK, Jehlum, Hafizabad, Khanewal, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar.

PATRON’S CUP (one-day tournament): Feb 20-March 11

SUPER LEAGUE (one-day and four-dayer): (March 25-May 18)