Domestic cricket season likely to start by mid-Sept

LAHORE: The domestic cricket season would most likely roll into action by mid-September with a new structure based on a combined Australian-England format.

Featuring six teams, the new cricket structure has reportedly been approved by the federal cabinet and also amendment in the constitution of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

With that approval the departmental cricket system now comes to an end. It was a long standing desire of Prime Minister Imran Khan to have a regional based first class cricket.

Chaired by Imran, the cabinet in its meeting gave its go-ahead to the new constitution, paving way to a new domestic cricket system that will feature six provincial teams.

The decision was taken in line with the prime minister’s long-term vision of abolishing departmental system and developing a structure similar to the one in Australia.

As per the new system, Pakistan’s domestic structure will have six teams namely Punjab, South Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan and Federal Capital Areas. Meanwhile, one team for each region would play a Grade 2 tournament, according to Jang.

It is pertinent to mention here that the prime minister’s vision and decision to end departmental cricket had faced strong opposition from some of his former teammates. Javed Miandad, one of PM Imran’s close confidants during their cricket careers, was his most vocal critic on the issue.

In one of his several press conferences on the topic, Miandad had famously questioned the wisdom of the prime minister abandoning a system of which he himself was the product of.

Miandad and the likeminded are of the view that the new system would put many previously contracted cricketers into unemployment.