Pakistan has so few domestic cricket matches

[mastimasti]

Why is that? I reviewed every Pakistan Cup from 2017 till now and until the most recent season, the cup tops out at about 5 matches. If your premier LO domestic league is only 5 matches long, what does one expect their ODI cricketers to be like?

It makes sense now that these guys have to stay in the national set up or they wouldn't have any cricket to play

I hope the current season is not a blip and future Pakistan Cups have been revamped to be at least 12 matches long.

Also, looking at the top run getters from 2017-19...they are all guys who have been tried and tested in the ODI set up to varying degrees of success. The most recent stats are filled with names I do not know but looking at a few of them, they are in their late 20s and only played around 50 games. How is that possible?

Would love someone knowledgeable on Pak cricket to reply.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

This is what happens when you have only 6 teams in the domestic structure.

 

[Titan24]

I think you missed the last Pakistan cup by the looks of it which was double round robin (10 matches each).

Though none of the regulars or even a lot from the bench strength of the regional teams were playing as they were with national team and A team.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

I think you missed the last Pakistan cup by the looks of it which was double round robin (10 matches each).

None of the regulars or even a lot from the bench strength of the regional teams were playing as they were with national team and A team.

Did you see the standard of cricket and ground? I remember one of the grounds was like a baseball ground and had like 40m boundary.

 

[Titan24]

Did you see the standard of cricket and ground? I remember one of the grounds was like a baseball ground and had like 40m boundary.

Yes the ground has been used for domestic cricket previously as well but it wasnt great especially when we talk about premier one day tournament where boundary size is really important.

The main reason was covid. They wanted to complete the domestic season in Karachi due to the bubble and as the home international cricket season was also starting they were preparing NSK for that. In a normal year Pakistan Cup could have been easily played in GS, Multan cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi cricket Stadium etc.

Standard of cricket was obviously going to be impacted with the main players of each region as well as a lot of bench strength away with National team and Pak A.

 

[Bewal Express]

As i have stated on here many times, players need to play proper matches and we are blessed with decent weather for most of the year especially down south. Our Players simply dont play enough to improve. Treat them like kids who need extra revision and more mock exams. The PCB havent got their priorties right- Misbah is being paid a fortune and has had no impact, so cut his salary by 2/3 and use the money to increase the number of matches in domestic cricket.

 

[mastimasti]

I think you missed the last Pakistan cup by the looks of it which was double round robin (10 matches each).

Though none of the regulars or even a lot from the bench strength of the regional teams were playing as they were with national team and A team.

I clearly stated this season was a different case but it is only one of the 4 years I looked at.

Still struggling to see any genuine academic answers. Somebody mentioned there are only 6 domestic teams but that has led to more matches this past season than previous seasons, then again looking at previous seasons further back in time, the PCB has switched between 2 groups to one group, lots of teams to just a few.

There seems a lack of planning and that coincides with weak Pakistan sides across formats. Yet organisations which treat their domestic system well, the ECB, CA and BCCI to name the best three have had the most consistent performers over the last ten years.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

There isn't really a domestic structure if we go by national standards of other countries, so no surprise there is only 6 teams. I can only assume with Pakistan being a very poor country, there just isn't enough money or leisure time to organise smaller leagues on a regional level outside of the major cities.

 

[TeymurBlake]

The domestic structure has been revamped quite recently, so it will take time to see the fruits of its labour. But I would like to see more action done on grassroots level in domestic cricket.

 

[Savak]

There isn't really a domestic structure if we go by national standards of other countries, so no surprise there is only 6 teams. I can only assume with Pakistan being a very poor country, there just isn't enough money or leisure time to organise smaller leagues on a regional level outside of the major cities.

This myth of 6 teams is rubbish. Each regional side is a first eleven and a second eleven. The PCB is working on develop 90 cities cricket teams which will feed the talent to the regional second eleven sides. Your U-19, U-16 and club cricket will feed talent to the cities. There is plenty of cricket and opportunities. Right now because of tight funds the PCB might not be able to reward domestic cricketers handsomely but with time as the PCB gets international cricket back to Pakistan on a consistent basis against srong teams, is able to secure handsome broadcast, title sponsorship deals and as the regional and cricket associations are able to do their own marketing and attract their own sponsors, the payouts at the lower level should increase.

Besides the PCB has also not stopped departments from operating their teams or operating their own tournaments, they have told them they are free to do as they want and wish, just that the PCB will not grant their matches official status. If the departments care so much about Pakistan Cricket and the players, maybe they should come forward and agree to sponsor, pump money into the regional and city teams or agree to run their own 4 day, ODI, T-20 tournaments without relying on the PCB and without demanding the PCB to give them official status.

 

[Titan24]

I clearly stated this season was a different case but it is only one of the 4 years I looked at.

Apologies, I misread it.

Still struggling to see any genuine academic answers. Somebody mentioned there are only 6 domestic teams but that has led to more matches this past season than previous seasons, then again looking at previous seasons further back in time, the PCB has switched between 2 groups to one group, lots of teams to just a few.

There seems a lack of planning and that coincides with weak Pakistan sides across formats. Yet organizations which treat their domestic system well, the ECB, CA and BCCI to name the best three have had the most consistent performers over the last ten years.

The thing is previous domestic structure had multiple things going on with different set of players more often than not and varying quality.

There was departmental 50 overs cricket for div 1 and 2 alongside the QAE and National T20 cup. Pentangular Cup which was a list A tournament was added by PCB in addition to the list 50 overs departmental cricket already in place, however in this case the players were drafted by the coaches and managements appointed by the PCB. Pentangular Cup had 5 teams and later the name was changed to Pakistan cup in 2016 I think.

So that previous tournament (Pentangular/Pakistan Cup) had 5 teams and each team used to play each other just once with total of 11 matches in the tournament.

With the recently reformed structure and total of 6 regional teams (No departmental cricket) for all formats the Pakistan Cup also had 6 teams. There was no Pakistan cup in 2019-2020 season which was the first one after the revamped structure due to covid and thus scheduling issue. It was originally meant to be single round robin however, with the success of National T20 2020 which took place as double round Robbin (For the preparation of the upcoming world T20s) they changed the Pakistan Cup to double round robin as well.

This year was the first Pakistan Cup within the new domestic structure so we will have to give it some time. I am hopeful that both the white ball tournament will be kept in double round robin format like the last season from now on. That would mean every team will play 10 50 overs matches each year which I think is pretty decent and is in line with Aus, Nz, WI and past SA structures.

New domestic system needs to be give time, there have just been two editions so far for QAE and National T20 while just one for Pakistan Cup. Now with the city and club cricket revived there would be decent talent to look at and to select from for the regional sides. For the final tier regional cricket level, I think 10 matches each across 3 formats is pretty decent and is enough to try and judge players. Yes for 2nd XI maybe one can argue that that should also be converted in double round robin rather than single.