LAHORE, Sept 30: While Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has failed to convince the regional heads to alter the set-up of the forthcoming Pentangular Cup — which comprises four-day matches, its one-day version has been totally scrapped because of no budget allocation in 2008-09 for the same.

Due to some bad experiences in the previous edition of the Pentangular Cup, the PCB had proposed a different format to the regional heads in a meeting in Islamabad last Saturday but they rejected the idea.

According to information, the PCB had proposed certain alterations in the Cup format including naming the provincial teams on former cricketers.

The PCB officials were of the view that since the last Cup edition had seen lop-sided contests between under-strength Balochistan, NWFP sides with powerful outfits of Punjab, Sindh and Federal Areas, the tournament was deprived of its competitive edge.

According to the PCB’s proposal, leading 75 players of the country could represent five teams of equal strength in the Pentangular Cup to make it more exciting and competitive. The whole idea, however, failed to make sense with the regional heads.

PCB’s Director Domestic Cricket Sultan Rana, when contacted, told Dawn that it was decided at the Islamabad meeting to continue with the previous system. He, however, shied away from making a comment when asked if PCB’s proposal really failed to convince the regional heads. All he could come up with was that “Due to shortage of time, the debate could not be held at length but another meeting in this regard is now summoned for Oct 4.

“Hopefully, all five teams will be announced soon after the meeting,” he added. The Pentangular Cup will now start from Oct 22 instead of Oct 21.

To a question, Sultan said the PCB had planned to hold the Pentangular One-day Cup as well but the idea has now been dropped since no amount was allocated for the event in the 2008-09 budget last June.

To select the best available players for the home series against India in Jan-Feb 2009, the PCB has decided to hold the Pentangular Cup prior to the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.