PCB all set to host 10 day-night matches for upcoming domestic season

Jun 15, 2016 at 1:29 PM

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PCB all set to host 10 day-night matches for upcoming domestic season

Pakistan Cricket Board is ready to host 10 day-night matches with pink ball in their upcoming domestic first-class season which starts in September. The Quaid-e-Azam (QEA) Trophy matches, including the semi-final and final, will experience the new day-night affair just to make sure every top side can adjust with the new conditions.

Recently the governing board of the PCB gave green signal to the recommendations sent by the domestic cricket committee as Pakistan are gearing up for their first pink-ball Test against Australia in December, the venue would be Brisbane.

Surprisingly, this time, the format of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy is same as last year; usually the format is changed almost every second year on an average basis. Last season saw a major revamp which was actually the third such change in the past five years.

However, there will be a change in the one-day format. The National One-Day Cup, which had 16 teams divided into two groups last season, has now been split into two different competitions – one tournament will have eight regional teams and the other will see eight department teams.

The Pakistan Cup, which came to the fore replacing the Pentangular Cup recently, will continue to feature five provincial teams. The domestic season will start with the National Super Eight T20 Cup scheduled to be held in the last week of August.

Among the 16 teams of the QEA Trophy, 12 teams – six regions and six departmental – will have the luxury of automatic qualification taking into account their last season’s performance. The remaining four teams will have to come through a qualifying round, which will be played between 14 teams. After that qualifying round, the top two regional and departmental sides will qualify for the main tournament.

PCB has designed the day-night first-class schedule with a focus on the top teams, just to give necessary exposure to national cricketers before the Brisbane Test.

PCB has been carrying out all the experimentations with pink-ball over the last six years, though they didn’t try to extend the trial and error method beyond a few games. Back in 2010-11, the final of the QEA Trophy was played with an orange ball in Karachi and in 2011-12 the final match was played with a pink ball.

Ever earlier this year, the QEA final between Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, led by Test captain Misbah-UL-Haq, and United Bank, captained by Younis Khan, served some mixed reactions from the players.

The fast bowlers notched 27 of the 34 wickets that fell, and no batsmen made a hundred. They played with a Kookaburra ball, though it wasn’t the same type that was used in the Australia Test. Misbah-UL-Haq later revealed the dew conditions in Karachi made it “extremely difficult for batsmen”, especially once the lights were switched on. “The new pink ball was seaming a lot, the moisture on the pitch (due to heavy dew) made it tough for the batsmen. Even lining up for high catches for fielders was a challenge as the visibility of the ball wasn’t all that great,” Misbah further said.

Though the PCB was relatively satisfied with the trial, the most concerning matter, among the players was the visibility of the pink ball and its quality once it got older. But some players said they want to play more games with the pink ball to get accustomed with its behavior.

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