KARACHI: Five days after the start of the Gold League event in the Haier President’s One-day Cup, 10 of the 14 outfits will launch their quest for glory in the Silver League competition from Saturday (Jan 24).

The four-team Group-I will begin from Jan 28, four days after start of matches in Group-II and Group-III; the last two pools have five sides competing.

After the completion of league phase on Feb 1, the winners of each of the three groups will then slug it out against each other in a triangular stage from Feb 4 to 6 at the Gaddafi Stadium. The top two teams from that segment will then play the final in Lahore on Feb 8.

The eventual champions will be awarded Rs500,000 with the runners-up picking up Rs250,000.

With the gloss from domestic cricket taken away by the Pakistan squad’s departure in a couple of days for New Zealand to launch their preparations for the World Cup, it is utterly imperative for those left behind to prove their mettle.

Thus, the likes of Asad Shafiq and Umar Gul (Habib Bank), Zulfiqar Babar (Wapda) and Anwar Ali (PIA) in particular will be desperate to perform for their respective teams during the upcoming tournament to remain in contention for a possible World Cup call-up in case of injuries in the originally-selected 15-man Pakistan squad.

Pools and schedule:

Group-I: Hyderabad Hawks, Quetta Bears, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), United Bank Limited (UBL).

Group-II: Sialkot Stallions, Abbottabad Falcons, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), Bahawalpur Stags.

Group-III: Lahore Eagles, Faisalabad Wolves, Multan Tigers, Pakistan Television (PTV), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).

Jan 24: Abbottabad Falcons vs HBL at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (Umpires: Ahmed Shahab and Mir Dad; match referee: Zaigham Burki); Sialkot Stallions vs Wapda at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot (Umpires: Zameer Haider and Nadeem Iqbal; match referee: Mohammad Anees); Multan Tigers vs SSGC at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Aftab Gillani and Aslam Bareach; match referee: Aziz-ur-Rehman); Faisalabad Wolves vs PTV at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Shozab Raza and Nasar Khan; match referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed).

Jan 26: Abbottabad Falcons vs Wapda at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (Umpires: Mir Dad and Waleed Yaqoob; match referee: Mohammad Anees); Bahawalpur Stags vs HBL at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot (Umpires: Ahmed Shahab and Sajid Afridi; match referee: Aziz-ur-Rehman); Lahore Eagles vs Multan Tigers at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Aftab Gillani and Aslam Bareach; match referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed); Faisalabad Wolves vs SSGC at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza; match referee: Zaigham Burki).

Jan 28: PIA vs Quetta Bears at RLCA Ground (Gulberg), Karachi (Umpires: Riazuddin and Mohammad Rashid; match referee: Ilyas Khan); Hyderabad Hawks vs UBL at Sports Complex, Mirpurkhas (Umpires: Jamil Kamran and Javed Ashraf; match referee: Iqbal Sheikh); Bahawalpur Stags vs Wapda at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (Umpires: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza; match referee: Mohammad Anees); Sialkot Stallions vs Abbottabad Falcons at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala (Umpires: Zameer Haider and Abid Naqvi; match referee: Aziz-ur-Rehman); Lahore Eagles vs SSGC at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Aftab Gillani and Nadeem Iqbal; match referee: Zaigham Burki); Multan Tigers vs PTV at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Ahmed Shahab and Aslam Bareach; match referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed).

Jan 30: UBL vs Quetta Bears at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi (Umpires: Tahir Rasheed and Irfan Dilshad; match referee: Anwer Khan); Hyderabad Hawks vs PIA at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad (Umpires: Jamil Kamran and Javed Ashraf; match referee: Iqbal Sheikh); Sialkot Stallions vs HBL at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot (Umpires: Ahmed Shahab and Ijaz Ahmed; match referee: Ishtiaq Ahmed); Abbottabad Falcons vs Bahawalpur Stags at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (Umpires: Zameer Haider and Majid Hussain; match referee: Aziz-ur-Rehman); Lahore Eagles vs PTV at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Aftab Gillani and Nadeem Iqbal; match referee: Khalid Niazi);Faisalabad Wolves vs Multan Tigers at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Mir Dad and Naushad Khan; match referee: Nadeem Arshad).

Feb 1: UBL vs PIA at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi (Umpires: Riazuddin and Tahir Rasheed; match referee: Ilyas Khan); Hyderabad Hawks vs Quetta Bears at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad (Umpires: Mohammad Rashid and Irfan Dilshad; match referee: Anwer Khan); HBL vs Wapda at Gaddafi Stadium (Umpires: Ahmed Shahab and Abid Naqvi; match referee: Khalid Niazi); Sialkot Stallions vs Bahawalpur Stags at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala (Umpires: Sajid Afridi and Waleed Yaqoob; match referee: Mohammad Anees); Lahore Eagles vs Faisalabad Wolves at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Mir Dad and Nasar Khan; match referee: Zaigham Burki); PTV vs SSGC at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Nadeem Iqbal and Majid Hussain; match referee: Nadeem Arshad).

Triangular stage:

Feb 4: Group-I Winners vs Group-II Winners at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Feb 5: Group-I Winners vs Group-III Winners at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Feb 6: Group-II Winners vs Group-III Winners at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Feb 8: Final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Published in Dawn January 18th , 2015

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