Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday unveiled the schedule for seven tournaments which includes two U19 tournaments in the upcoming 2023-24 men’s domestic cricket season. The schedule of the department tournaments, will be announced in due course. The 2023-24 cricket season will commence with 29 matches of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy starting on September 10 and concluding on October 26. The eight-team regional tournament will begin at Gaddafi Stadium, with Lahore Region Whites facing Lahore Region Blues on Sunday, September 10 while the other first-round matches include Peshawar Region vs Karachi Region Whites at Abbottabad Stadium, Faisalabad Region vs Multan Region at Shoaib Akhtar Stadium KRL Rawalpindi and FATA Region vs Rawalpindi Region at Pindi Cricket Stadium. The final will also be staged at the iconic Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium from October 22 to 26.

The non-first-class tournament, Hanif Mohammad Trophy, will also start concurrently with Quaid-e-Azam trophy on September 10, featuring 10 regions in two groups. The top two sides from each group at the end of the group stage will qualify for the Super 4 stage, where each team in that stage will play three matches. At the end of the Super 4 stage, the top side will qualify for next year’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. The matches of the Hanif Mohammad Trophy will be played in Mirpur, Multan, Muzaffarabad, and Rahim Yar Khan.

The one-day tournaments, Pakistan Cup and Hanif Mohammad Cup, will follow the conclusion of the red-ball tournaments, both starting on November 1. Pakistan Cup will be hosted in Abbottabad, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi. The semi-finals will be played on November 16 and 17 at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, while the final will take place on November 19 at the same venue. Meanwhile, the Hanif Mohammad Cup will begin on November 1 and will be hosted in AJK, Faisalabad, Multan, and Rahim Yar Khan. Like the Hanif Mohammad Trophy, the winner of the Hanif Mohammad Cup will be the side topping the Super 4 stage.

The two-leg National T20 will be held in Karachi from November 24 to December 10. In the first leg, all 18 regional sides will compete to qualify for the Super 8, which will be played from December 1 to 8. The semi-finals of the tournament will be played on December 9, while the final will take place the next day. The venue for the three knockout matches will be Karachi’s National Bank Stadium.

Meanwhile, the two U19 tournaments – National U19 Championship (three-day) and National U19 Cup (one-day) will take place from 15 September to 13 November. Both tournaments will be held simultaneously, with a one-day gap between both formats in every round. The 18 regions will be divided into three groups, with the top team of each group qualifying for the triangular stage. The top two sides from the triangular stage will play the final of the National U19 Championship at the Rana Naveed Academy in Sheikhupura from 10 to 13 November. The final of the National U19 Cup will be played at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on 26 October.