KARACHI: Holders Wapda will launch of their title defence in a revamped Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship from Tuesday when Lahore Blues host them at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Wapda clinched their maiden first-class trophy after the day-night final against Habib Bank petered out in a draw at Karachi’s National Stadium last December. The highlight of that game was skipper Salman Butt’s century in each innings.

The latest edition of country’s premier first-class competition comes with a lot of alterations. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s domestic committee has put teams in quandary over the schedule that will be a trial of stamina for the 16 competing sides as they head toward seven four-day fixtures in the space of only 41 days compared to the past two season when teams had 15-18 rest days in contrast to 13 now.

Further, just 86 days have allocated for the entire championship during which 69 matches will be played at 15 venues. Another big change is that a break of 20 days will enforced before the Super Eight stage and the five-day final since the PCB were forced to delay holding of the National T20 Cup, which was moved from the original dates of Aug 25-Sept 10 to accommodate the three-match T20 series between Pakistan and World XI that was played in Lahore earlier this month.

Originally, the first-class event was planned for an Oct 8 start but the World XI visit and revised dates for the National T20, which is now set to be played in the middle of November.

With no policy as yet decided by the PCB hierarchy to prevent top players going to fill up their pockets from cash earned from the lucrative T20 leagues — such as the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the first-ever Global T20 in South Africa — the Quaid Trophy will again see the star status missing.

The dates of both BPL (Nov 2-Dec 10) and Global T20 (starting from Nov 3 with the final on Dec 16) will almost run concurrently with the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy and the National T20 Cup.

The PCB, in a major decision, chose to adopt a draft selection policy for the eight regional outfits for the upcoming tournament with each region being allocated eight players through this controversial process.

Another key element missing time is that there will be no day-night matches scheduled, according to the fixture list provided to the media.

Pools:

Group ‘A’: Lahore Blues, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Islamabad, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Group ‘B’: Karachi Whites, Lahore Whites, Rawalpindi, Fata, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan Television (PTV).

Schedule:

Sept 26-29: Lahore Blues vs Wapda (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Faisalabad vs NBP (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad), Islamabad vs SSGC (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad), Peshawar vs SNGPL (Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad); United Bank vs Karachi Whites (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs PTV (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Fata vs HBL (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs KRL (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Oct 3-6: Lahore Blues vs NBP (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Faisalabad vs Wapda (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); Islamabad vs SNGPL (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad); Peshawar vs SSGC (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar); Karachi Whites vs PTV (NBP Sports Complex, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs UBL (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Fata vs KRL (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs HBL (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Oct 9-12: Lahore Blues vs SSGC (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Faisalabad vs SNGPL (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); Islamabad vs Wapda (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad); Peshawar vs NBP (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar); Karachi Whites vs KRL (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs HBL (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Fata vs UBL (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs PTV (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Oct 15-18: Lahore Blues vs SNGPL (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Faisalabad vs SSGC (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); Islamabad vs NBP (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad); Peshawar vs Wapda (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar); Karachi Whites vs HBL (NBP Sports Complex, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs KRL (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Fata vs PTV (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs UBL (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Oct 21-24: SNGPL vs SSGC (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); NBP vs Wapda (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi); Islamabad vs Faisalabad (Diamond Club Ground); Peshawar vs Lahore Blues (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar); Karachi Whites vs Rawalpindi (National Stadium, Karachi); HBL vs KRL (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Lahore Whites vs Fata (LCCA Ground, Lahore); UBL vs PTV (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot).

Oct 27-30: Wapda vs SSGC (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); Lahore Blues vs Faisalabad (LCCA Ground, Lahore); NBP vs SNGPL (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Islamabad vs Faisalabad (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad); Karachi Whites vs Fata (National Stadium, Karachi); HBL vs PTV (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Rawalpindi vs Lahore Whites (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi); KRL vs UBL (KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Nov 2-5: SNGPL vs Wapda (National Stadium, Karachi); NBP vs SSGC (Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan); Faisalabad vs Peshawar (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad); Lahore Blues vs Islamabad (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Lahore Whites vs Karachi Whites LCCA Ground, Lahore); Rawalpindi vs Fata (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi); KRL vs PTV (KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi); HBL vs UBL (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad).

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017