The 16-team Patron’s Trophy Grade-II cricket tournament will commence across eight different centres of the country from Sunday (today). All matches, except the final, which will be played from May 1-4 at Pindi Cricket Stadium, will be three-day non first-class fixtures. The 16 teams have been equally divided into four pools, with the pool-toppers progressing to the semi-finals to be played at the Diamond Cricket Ground and Pindi Cricket Stadium from April 27-29.
The pools are:
Pool A – Civil Association Authority, Haideri Traders, Navy and Omar Associates. All matches will be played in Karachi and will be shared between National Bank Complex, State Bank ground and UBL Sports Complex.
Pool B – Candyland, Capital Development Authority, Ghani Glass and Port Qasim Authority. All matches will be split between Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, and R.Naveed Academy, Sheikhupura.
Pool C – Army, Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan International Airlines and State Bank. All matches will be shared between Army Cricket Ground and Diamond Cricket Ground.
Pool D – K-Electric, Karachi Port Trust, Railways and Sabir’s Paultry. All matches will be played in Lahore and will be shared between the LCCA Ground and
Railway Stadium.
Schedule of first round matches:
April 14-16 – Omar Associates v Haideri Traders, State Bank Ground; CAA v Navy, UBL Sports Complex (both Pool A); Port Qsim v Candyland, R.Naveed Academy; CDA v Ghani Glass, Iqbal Stadium (both Pool B); Army v State Bank, Army Cricket Ground, PAF v PIA, Diamond Cricket Ground (both Pool C); Railways v KPT, Railway Stadium; K-Electric v Sabir’s Paultry, LCCA Ground (both Pool D).