Supporting the new domestic cricket structure, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director - Domestic Cricket Haroon Rasheed has said the new structure has provided a lot of positives, while the quality of cricket has improved considerably.
The 2019-20 cricket season will conclude with the Pakistan Cup 50-over tournament that will be from 25 March to 19 April.
Haroon said:"The concept of first and second eleven was to make all 32 players eligible for first-class cricket with players relegated or promoted to both tiers depending on their performances and we saw many players coming to the first-class level from second eleven tournament and making a big mark. No-toss rule was very well received."
"We introduced home and away games this season and despite the majority of the tournament being played in Karachi, teams were equally given a share of home and away games in a bid to neutralize undue pitch or conditions advantage which used to be an issue in the seasons gone-by," Haroon said, adding: "Since the majority of international cricket is played with the Kookaburra ball we decided to use the ball this season. For the last couple of seasons we were using Dukes which have a far more pronounced seam compared to the Kookaburras. The Dukes provided bowlers extra seam and bounce especially on sporting pitches, whereas with the Kookaburras the bowlers didn't get any extra advantage due to its flatter seam."
Haroon said, "This season the pitches were more or less the same but due to the change in ball we saw batsmen prosper while the spinners also came into play as they bowled longer spells as fast bowlers remained less effective especially 20th over onwards in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. This season the batsmen prospered and we saw some big innings, the spinners topped the wicket-takers list as they got to bowl long spells an aspect that had been missing with the Dukes ball in the seasons gone by."
He said they have identified various areas where we can improve in the season ahead. All stakeholders including captains and coaches of the six teams will be invited for an end of season de-brief where the shortcomings will be identified and plans for the new season will be made, he added.
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