PCB begins new chapter with 2019-20 domestic structure

Opening a new chapter in the Pakistan cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday unveiled the 2019-20 domestic cricket structure at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

“We are placed seventh in Test rankings and sixth in ODIs, our potential is much greater but we continue to under perform. Until we don’t have a competitive quality cricket at domestic level, the situation would not improve… The most important thing for me is to have a merit based system,” said PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, while addressing the media.

“We want to develop consistency in our performances, across all formats, at the apex level so these reforms were pertinent,” he said.

Under the new domestic structure 16 regions have been merged into six associations, namely: Balochistan, Sindh, Southern Punjab, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern.

• Sindh Cricket Association includes Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana
• Balochistan Cricket Association comprises Dera Murad Jamali and Quetta
• Southern Punjab Cricket Association includes Multan and Bahawalpur
• Central Punjab Cricket Association is made up of Faisalabad, Sialkot and Lahore
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association includes Peshawar, FATA and Abbottabad
• Northern Cricket Association comprises Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Azad-Jammu Kashmir

The new domestic structure is divided into three different tiers i.e. the first tier is made up of 90 city cricket association schools which will be organizing club cricket, the second tier would feature city cricket teams that would participate in intra city competition. Lastly, in the third tier teams from 6 associations will participate in the PCB sponsored tournaments.

From Dukes to Kookaburra

PCB CEO Wasim Khan informed that the cricket balls used at the first-class level will change from the Dukes to Kookaburra to reflect what is being used at international level. Khan further said that the National Cricket Academy is to be streamlined as the National High Performance Centre.

Thirty-two non-PCB centrally contracted players would be awarded annual domestic contracts at each cricket association and will feature in first-class, non-first class, List ‘A’, and T20 tournaments during a season.

Khan informed that the cricket associations will also be free to select players from outside the pool of 32 contracted players on per-match payment.

Players remuneration 

Talking about players remuneration in the latest domestic structure Khan said that each of the domestic contracted players will receive monthly retainers of Rs 50,000 and it is anticipated that a high-performing player will earn between Rs 2million and Rs 2.5million per season in terms of allowances, match fees and prize money (details to be announced in due course).

Besides the players, the new structure is also expected to create employment opportunities for the qualified coaching staff and former cricketers. Along with the administrative roles, each cricket association will have a players’ support personnel staff which will include head coaches, batting coaches, bowling coaches, fielding coaches, trainers, physiotherapists and video analysts to look after first class, second XI, U19, U16, U13 teams and high performance programmes.

There will also be three selectors working with a cricket association each.

It was further learnt that the PCB would be spending over Rs 2billion in upgradation of stadia in Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Quetta.

Pakistan domestic cricket events:

• Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class, four-day matches, final will be a five-day fixture): 14 September – 08 October; 28 October – 13 December
• National U19 tournament (three-day and one-day tournament): 1 October – 12 November
• Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (2nd XI, three-day matches, final will be a four-day fixture):14 September – 10 October; 28 October – 29 November
• National T20 Cup (both first and second XIs will play simultaneously): 13-24 October. First XIs will play in Faisalabad, second XIs will play in Karachi
• Pakistan Cup One-Day Tournament (both first and second XIs will play simultaneously): 29 March – 24 April 2020.