KARACHI: The opening day’s play in both the semi-finals of the Patron’s Trophy (Grade-II) Cricket Tournament on Monday was completely washed out after heavy rains left the match venues in Lahore and Sialkot inundated.

Group B’ winners Omar Associates were due to take on Lahore-based Khayaban-e-Amin, who topped Group ‘D’, at the LCCA Ground.

Thus, it was a mere formality for umpires Zaheer Ahmed and Farooq Ali Khan along with match referee Iftikhar Ahmed to inform the teams around lunch time that the game will get under way on Tuesday, the scheduled second day of the three-day fixture, weather permitting.

It was also a depressing story at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot where the Karachi-based K-Electric, who ended up Group ‘A’ champions, are playing their city rivals, Karachi Port Trust.

Match referee Amiruddin Ansari as well as umpires Ehtesham-ul-Haq and Rashid Riaz were reduced to hapless group of officials as they conducted the routine inspection of the playing arena in chilling conditions.

According to the playing conditions, if there is no chance of play on the remaining two days at either of the venues, then both semi-finals would be replayed.

But if the weather improves sufficiently on Wednesday to allow for play to start, a 25-over game can be staged to determine the qualifiers for the four-day final, the winners of which will be eligible to compete at the first-class level in the Silver League tier of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship next season.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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