Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced three Champions events as part of the 2024-25 domestic season to provide a “tougher, more competitive and high-pressure cricket playing environment” in the country.
The cricket board said in a press release that the new events aimed to create better and enhanced earning opportunities for its future stars.
“The Champions One-Day Cup, Champions T20 Cup and Champions First-Class Cup will join the National T20 Cup, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (regional first-class tournament), President’s Trophy (departmental first-class tournament), President’s Cup (departmental 50-over event), and HBL Pakistan Super League 2025 in the 2024-25 domestic cricket season, expected to run from 1 September 2024 to 5 August 2025,” the PCB release said.
PCB takes major step towards promoting quality domestic cricket
With the addition of new events, the number of matches in domestic cricket will jump to 261 across eight men’s senior tournaments. This includes 131 first-class matches in three events, 40 50-over matches in two, and 97 T20 matches in three.
In the previous season, the PCB had organised 203 matches in the six men’s senior tournaments, including 51 first-class matches in two tournaments, 55 50-over matches in two events and 97 T20 matches.
Salient features of the newly-introduced Champions tournaments are:
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Five sides – Dolphins, Lions, Panthers, Stallions and Wolves - will compete in each Champions Cup event
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Each Champions Cup event will be played in a double-league format
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Around 150 of the country’s highest-performing domestic players from the past three years and centrally contracted players will be available for selection (more details to be shared in due course)
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Each side will have a former Pakistan superstar as a mentor and potentially as an owner (mentor and owner names/details to be announced in due course)
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Player support personnel of each side are expected to include: Head Coach (at least Level 3, minimum five years with a first-class side), batting/bowling/fielding coaches (minimum Level 3, three-year experience), Strength and Conditioning Coach, Physiotherapist, Analyst, Operations Manager, and Media/Digital Media Manager.
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Each side will be allocated a dedicated Regional High-Performance Centre in Faisalabad (High-Performance Centre Faisalabad), Karachi (Hanif Mohammad High-Performance Centre), Lahore (National Cricket Academy), Multan (Inzamam-ul-Haq High-Performance Centre), and Sialkot (High-Performance Centre, Sialkot) for training and practice.
The Champions One-Day Cup will serve as the season opener of the PCB Men’s Domestic Cricket Season 2024-25 when the 21-match tournament is played from 1-29 September. Curtains will fall on the PCB Men’s Domestic Cricket Season 2024-25 with the Champions First-Class Cup, which will be held from 28 May to 5 August.
In addition to the eight men’s senior tournaments in the period from August 2024 to September 2025, the PCB will also organise 11 development/pathway tournaments which will be separate from the three Pakistan Shaheens and one Pakistan U19 away series.
This potentially means the budding and upcoming youngsters are expected to get around 13,000 matches at the schools, colleges, universities, clubs, U15, U17, U19, Regional Inter-District Senior and Challenge League Senior levels across all formats to test their skills, impress their coaches and selectors with their performances, make themselves available for selection in the regional, departmental, franchise and Champions sides and, in the meantime, continue to walk up the ladder in pursuit of their dreams.
Tentative schedule:
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Champions One-Day Cup: 1-29 September (five teams, 21 matches) (new event)
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President’s Cup (50-over): 3-15 October (nine teams, 19 matches) (seven teams, 24 matches in 2023-24)
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Quaid-e-Azam Trophy: 20 October-18 December (18 teams, 73 matches) (eight teams, 29 matches in 2023-24)
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Champions T20 Cup: 21 December -2 January (five teams, 21 matches) (new event)
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President’s Trophy (first-class): 6 January-7 March (nine teams, 37 matches) (seven teams, 22 matches in 2023-24)
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National T20 Cup: 13-21 March (18 teams, 35 matches) (18 teams, 63 matches in 2023-24)
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Pakistan Super League 2025: 10 April-25 May (six teams, 34 matches) (six teams, 34 matches in 2023-24)
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Champions First-Class Cup: 28 May-5 August (five teams, 21 matches) (new event)
The PCB concluded that the match-by-match schedule of the eight men’s senior tournaments in the PCB men’s domestic season 2024-25 will be announced closer to time.
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