What will it take for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to match the County Championship in stature?

[MenInG]

Currently, from the way its covered on TV and press, the fan following as well as how each side has its own presence on the social media etc, the County Championship is miles ahead of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

I am wondering how long it will take for our premier FC tournament to resemble it's England counterpart in any shape or form?

 

[ChTab]

I don't think QEA Trophy can ever match the stature of County Championship as far as social media presence is concerned.

But to make QEA trophy better we can introduce 2 tier system with relegation & promotion but the most important thing would be to allow the city or provincial system to run for at least 15-20 years.

 

[zacattakk]

First of all it needs consistency in management and time to grow and develop. Which rarely happens, with changes in PCB leadership leading to changes in the domestic structure every few years. The new system has weeded out many extremely mediocre journey men overweight players who didnt deserve to be there which is a big positive step, and made selection more competitive. (We'll have to accept that its impossible to weed out every sifarishi in PCB cricket regardless of the system). Letting this new system develop and only making minor tweaks/improvements with improvement in pitches is needed. This will obviously take many years.

 

[pak.cricket]

Currently, from the way its covered on TV and press, the fan following as well as how each side has its own presence on the social media etc, the County Championship is miles ahead of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

I am wondering how long it will take for our premier FC tournament to resemble it's England counterpart in any shape or form?

In terms of quality of cricket, Quaid e Azam trophy is far ahead of county championship and i think that is the only thing that should matter for a domestic competition. Presence on social media and Popularity etc. are useless when you are not producing any quality players for your national side. The condition of England's national team are in front of you.

 

[MenInG]

I don't think QEA Trophy can ever match the stature of County Championship as far as social media presence is concerned.

But to make QEA trophy better we can introduce 2 tier system with relegation & promotion but the most important thing would be to allow the city or provincial system to run for at least 15-20 years.

We have had so much time to learn, we have the best social media minds etc, then what is stopping us?

 

[ChTab]

We have had so much time to learn, we have the best social media minds etc, then what is stopping us?

Maybe we don't have a culture to follow domestic competition here in Pakistan & hence nobody here follows these domestic sides on social network even the PSL sides have very meagre following on social media. Karachi Kings Instagram page has only 559K followers & their twitter has 1M followers which is very bad for a city which has population of around 18 million.

 

[MenInG]

This is what I am talking about

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Winning 53.4% of the vote, <a href="https://twitter.com/RealHa55an?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealHa55an</a> is the winner of round 3's Performance of the Week &#55356;&#57225;<br><br>Any excuse to show this searing delivery and celebration again! &#55357;&#56613;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LVCountyChamp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LVCountyChamp</a> <a href="https://t.co/dWKyBcMUWL">pic.twitter.com/dWKyBcMUWL</a></p>— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) <a href="https://twitter.com/CountyChamp/status/1518625553758183424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



What stops PCB etc to create this sort of hype for QeA?

 

[Babeikh]

In terms of stature I don't think QEA Trophy will ever reach the level of the county championship - in terms of the facilities available to the cricketers, the professionalism, their salaries (starting salary for young county cricketer is something like £24k). Cricketers around the world still want to play in the county championship.

If the question is purely the quality of the cricket, then certainly QEA Trophy can compete and if we improve the pitches to a reasonable standard, it might already be a higher quality than the county championship.

 

[Babeikh]

The paradox is of course that if the freeloaders get their way and bring back United Bank Ltd vs Khan Research Laboratories then we can forget about the quality of QEA Trophy.

 

[Junaids]

More to the point, the IPL has all that money, yet not even a fraction of the stature of the County Championship at the same time.

I know that Hasan Ali is at Lancashire and Shan Masood is at Derbyshire.

I literally have no idea who plays for the Delhi Dumptrucks, the Mumbai Morons or the Kolkata Klaptraps and I can’t imagine any situation in which I would want to.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

More to the point, the IPL has all that money, yet not even a fraction of the stature of the County Championship at the same time.

I know that Hasan Ali is at Lancashire and Shan Masood is at Derbyshire.

I literally have no idea who plays for the Delhi Dumptrucks, the Mumbai Morons or the Kolkata Klaptraps and I can’t imagine any situation in which I would want to.

It’s a domestic tournament so no one apart from Indian fans is expected to care or know.
Even in India many fans don’t care about dumbos of Derbyshire or Porkies of Yorkshire.
I can’t imagine who would care in India about old colonials as they don’t run the game anymore.
Future is Indians running world cricket.

 

[daytrader]

More to the point, the IPL has all that money, yet not even a fraction of the stature of the County Championship at the same time.

I know that Hasan Ali is at Lancashire and Shan Masood is at Derbyshire.

I literally have no idea who plays for the Delhi Dumptrucks, the Mumbai Morons or the Kolkata Klaptraps and I can’t imagine any situation in which I would want to.

It’s a domestic tournament so no one apart from Indian fans is expected to care or know.
Even in India many fans don’t care about dumbos of Derbyshire or Porkies of Yorkshire.
I can’t imagine who would care in India about old colonials as they don’t run the game anymore.
Future is Indians running world cricket.

One thing i like about County is how they've always attracted overseas players well before the franchise cricket concept.

But comparing T20 leagues to FC is misconstrued. A better comparison would be Ranji Trophy vs County or IPL vs T20 Blast.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Why are people saying the quality of QeA is better than the quality of County??

This is completely false, hug majority of QeA matches, ends in draws where teams score 500, 600+, tail ends and hacks score double hundreds, triple hundreds.

Part-time bowlers and grandpas are the leading wicket takers of QeA.

Pakistan's top players don't even play in Quaid e Azam, yet they are desperate to play in county, surely that must be suggesting something.

 

[Varun]

Is this thread only about the social media activities of English county clubs?

Sub-continental countries are too lax in this regard. Compare the BCCI's below-par online coverage compared to Cricket Australia who have to go toe-to-toe against various other sports in their country.

 

[daytrader]

Is this thread only about the social media activities of English county clubs?

Sub-continental countries are too lax in this regard. Compare the BCCI's below-par online coverage compared to Cricket Australia who have to go toe-to-toe against various other sports in their country.

I guess lack of competition from other sports makes sub-continent boards more lazy to provide coverage. They know they have a monopoly in the market and fans will actively seek cricketing news

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Why are people saying the quality of QeA is better than the quality of County??

This is completely false, hug majority of QeA matches, ends in draws where teams score 500, 600+, tail ends and hacks score double hundreds, triple hundreds.

Part-time bowlers and grandpas are the leading wicket takers of QeA.

Pakistan's top players don't even play in Quaid e Azam, yet they are desperate to play in county, surely that must be suggesting something.

Mainly because of money on offer. If QEA offers very very good sums of money, reverse would happen.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

I guess lack of competition from other sports makes sub-continent boards more lazy to provide coverage. They know they have a monopoly in the market and fans will actively seek cricketing news

Is this thread only about the social media activities of English county clubs?

Sub-continental countries are too lax in this regard. Compare the BCCI's below-par online coverage compared to Cricket Australia who have to go toe-to-toe against various other sports in their country.

All BCCI domestic match updates are on BCCI domestic twitter feed and all match highlights, toss, player interviews of domestic matches are on bcci tv website with high quality HD video feed.
Same applies for PCB socials on twitter and youtube.

What is being done different by ECB and CA ?

 

[MenInG]

All BCCI domestic match updates are on BCCI domestic twitter feed and all match highlights, toss, player interviews of domestic matches are on bcci tv website with high quality HD video feed.
Same applies for PCB socials on twitter and youtube.

What is being done different by ECB and CA ?

Not sure about CA but ECB's County Championship Twitter account is adding clips etc, as are the County accounts also. On top of that EACH county game being shown via Youtube/streaming.

PCB do one game only.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Any status that county cricket has is down to its glorious past where you could argue that matches were close to test class.

Nowadays they are just leveraging those historic rivalries.

 

[Babeikh]

Why are people saying the quality of QeA is better than the quality of County??

This is completely false, hug majority of QeA matches, ends in draws where teams score 500, 600+, tail ends and hacks score double hundreds, triple hundreds.

Part-time bowlers and grandpas are the leading wicket takers of QeA.

Pakistan's top players don't even play in Quaid e Azam, yet they are desperate to play in county, surely that must be suggesting something.

Just under 50% of matches in QEA Trophy last season were draws.

The average first innings score over the tournament was about 320.

The highest run scorer was Mohammad Huraira who is 19.

In terms of why Pakistani and other overseas cricketers want to play county, it is because they get paid a huge amount of money and get experience in English conditions.

I think the overall quality of QEA Trophy is not much different to County - you can see someone like Shan Masood feasting on the bowling and scoring hundred after hundred after hundred. Even the highest wicket taker last season was a 33 year old nobody called Luke Fletcher.

What PCB needs to do now is get the pitches up to a good standard for QEA Trophy, otherwise quality of cricketers is probably around the same ball park if not higher in QEA Trophy.

 

[silentkiller187]

County cricket gives exposure to SENA tracks for sub continetnt players so it is invaluable, i would hold county performances with double the weight of a performance on the dead pakistani tracks.

Coming back to what we can do to be on par, the problem is basic things have been neglected, social media, each team has its own setup these days , more than just cricket to engage fans, this then feeds into LV own twitter/insta feed for maximum reach, with QEA you could barely find out the scores a season or two ago let alonevids of highlights,this has improved recently but still long way to go. Also merchandise is another thing Pakistan have been lax on for far too long, you can barely buy a original Pakistan shirt let alone a KP shirt etc , go into any reputable sports shop in the UK in summer and chances are you can buy a surrey or middlesex shirt. Final thing is the crowds, you will get a healthy number of around 500-1000 visit county grounds when the weather is good, Pak barely got this in UAE for international games.

 

[redmaverik84]

Improve quality of pitches, broadcasting, reaching out to kids, stream on TV and internet, creating an interest within the area each team belongs to is something both PCB and BCCI need to do. Most of the Ranji trophy arent shown live and those that are have such poor picture quality/ commentary that you'd rather just follow scores on cricinfo.
That apart, quality of cricket is much better that the County championship as evidenced by the performances of Masood, Hassan and Pujara.

 

[silentkiller187]

Just under 50% of matches in QEA Trophy last season were draws.

The average first innings score over the tournament was about 320.

The highest run scorer was Mohammad Huraira who is 19.

In terms of why Pakistani and other overseas cricketers want to play county, it is because they get paid a huge amount of money and get experience in English conditions.

I think the overall quality of QEA Trophy is not much different to County - you can see someone like Shan Masood feasting on the bowling and scoring hundred after hundred after hundred. Even the highest wicket taker last season was a 33 year old nobody called Luke Fletcher.

What PCB needs to do now is get the pitches up to a good standard for QEA Trophy, otherwise quality of cricketers is probably around the same ball park if not higher in QEA Trophy.

Highly debatable, Shan is having a freak start to his career, usually its a bowlers game for the frst half of the season in county championship, i would still give more weight to a 100 in county vs a 100 in QEA because the pitches in county have a lot more life for bowlers.

And highest wicket taker in QEA 2021 was Ali Usman hardly a household name, in fact im sure a lot more people in the cricketing circles know Luke Fletcher ahead of Ali Usman so cant really rely on that too much.

The fact England can field 3 or 4 different teams and still remain very competitive is testament to the strength of the county game.

 

[Markhor]

County Cricket only has the edge in quality of facilities, grounds, coaching and support base.

However England's Test form over the last 5-6 years has highlighted the deficiencies in the County setup, namely the excessively seam friendly conditions, scheduling and lack of competitiveness.

The standard of QEA cricket during the 20/21 season and the Karachi leg of 21/22 was excellent. Unfortunately it seems we're ripping that up to revert to a failed setup.

 

[Mesozoic]

CC's 'stature' has more to do with it's rich history. It's quality is appalling due to the 18 team structure.

 

[Mesozoic]

The fact England can field 3 or 4 different teams and still remain very competitive is testament to the strength of the county game.

)


Have you watched the English test team play in the last one year?

 

[silentkiller187]

)


Have you watched the English test team play in the last one year?

Test form has been poor but thats because they have been chasing the riches of the limited overs game, ODI and T20 they are still very strong, give it a couple of seasons and more focus on 4 day side of things and England will be back up there.

 

[Mesozoic]

Test form has been poor but thats because they have been chasing the riches of the limited overs game, ODI and T20 they are still very strong, give it a couple of seasons and more focus on 4 day side of things and England will be back up there.

Right. So not quite the "can field 3-4 teams and stay competitive" thing you were going for earlier. Is it?

 

[Babeikh]

Highly debatable, Shan is having a freak start to his career, usually its a bowlers game for the frst half of the season in county championship, i would still give more weight to a 100 in county vs a 100 in QEA because the pitches in county have a lot more life for bowlers.

And highest wicket taker in QEA 2021 was Ali Usman hardly a household name, in fact im sure a lot more people in the cricketing circles know Luke Fletcher ahead of Ali Usman so cant really rely on that too much.

The fact England can field 3 or 4 different teams and still remain very competitive is testament to the strength of the county game.

We have had unusually dry and warm weather in the UK for April. There have been 18 scores of 400+ already across both divisions. Of course generally speaking conditions are more balanced in the UK for bat and ball than in Pakistan which is why the PCB needs to look at pitches as a matter of urgency. I think though in QEA, there is a tendency towards extremes ie. a pitch will be a minefield on day 1 or it will be a pancake - let's get some more balance there.

Not comparing whether county cricket or QEA has more household names - no idea which does, to be honest. I think we are different as we follow cricket closely but most randoms in England will have no clue who Luke Fletcher is, in the same way most randoms in Pak won't know Ali Usman, I am sure. No significant difference between the two here.

England have had an abysmal time recently - just lost a series to West Indies, got pulverised in Australia, lost to India at home etc so if anything the testament is to the weakness of the county game, not its strength.

Among all of this, it would be great if the winner of the QEA Trophy could play the winner of the County Championship! I reckon KP would beat Warwickshire in most conditions.

 

[silentkiller187]

Right. So not quite the "can field 3-4 teams and stay competitive" thing you were going for earlier. Is it?

How many games of county cricket have Englands test players played in last 2 years combined? The county cricket system as a product is not just responsible for test selection, many of the odi players especially the "c" team players that beat Pakistan so easily last summer will attribute their come up to the English county system.. or are you saying Pak has a better domestic system as per the op.

 

[Savak]

People really need to stop over hyping the English Country Cricket Sytem, England have only won one test match in 2021 and have suffered 15-16 defeats. Its not really a gold standard, England only recently have become a gun ODI and T-20 team in the last 6 years but its come at the expense of their test cricket where they were bullies at home on green wickets thanks to Broad, Anderson and even that will go away soon.

 

[MenInG]

People really need to stop over hyping the English Country Cricket Sytem, England have only won one test match in 2021 and have suffered 15-16 defeats. Its not really a gold standard, England only recently have become a gun ODI and T-20 team in the last 6 years but its come at the expense of their test cricket where they were bullies at home on green wickets thanks to Broad, Anderson and even that will go away soon.

Its not the English system we are talking about. Its the interest in their FC cricket we are talking about.

 

[Babeikh]

Its not the English system we are talking about. Its the interest in their FC cricket we are talking about.

It will take time. First and foremost we have to stick to the current domestic structure - if every 2/3 years it changes then people will not be interested - if we bring departments back then people will not be interested. Let's give this structure 10-15 years and then see.

 

[silentkiller187]

It will take time. First and foremost we have to stick to the current domestic structure - if every 2/3 years it changes then people will not be interested - if we bring departments back then people will not be interested. Let's give this structure 10-15 years and then see.

Very true and this is the point I'm trying to make. The structure in English County is light year's ahead of most, all 3 formats under one umbrella ,players come through and develop there skills in all areas, pak has a long way to go to match this.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

It will need professionalism from PCB, attention and the same love which you guys give to PSL.

 

[Varun]

County cricket is so great that England can't even guarantee a home series win against any given team. Except perhaps the West Indies, who they can't beat away at all.

 

[Junaids]

English international players hardly play county cricket.

But in recent years it has really improved players like Marnus Labuschagne.

 

[Hassan A]

Lahore, 13 October 2023: The match between Lahore Blues and Multan at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore resulted in a draw on the final day of round six of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24. At Pindi Stadium, Faisalabad was given 109 runs to chase in the final innings, which the side achieved in 30.2 overs with six wickets remaining. At Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Karachi Whites chased 157 in 57.4 overs, defeating Rawalpindi by one wicket.

Lahore Blues v Multan at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore:

At Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, Imran Butt-led Lahore Blues resumed from 314 runs from 87 overs, having lost one wicket the previous day. Imran scored a magnificent double century (255, 401b, 26x4s, 2x6s). He was supported by Qasim Akram (72, 85b, 11x4s, 1x6) and Hammad Butt (51, 101b, 6x4s).

Lahore Blues posted 578 in 162 overs and lost six wickets in the innings. Zahid Mahmood and Ali Usman returned with two wickets each. The match was drawn when no definitive results could be foreseen.

Faisalabad v Peshawar at Pindi Stadium Rawalpindi:

Peshawar started their day with 155 for five on the board after batting for 46 overs the previous day at Pindi Stadium. They managed to post 205 runs in 65 overs; skipper Sahibzada Farhan remained the most successful batter for the side, scoring 92 runs in 120 balls, including 14 boundaries and a maximum. Mehran Ibrahim was the other contributor with the bat (40 not out, 128b, 4x4s). Mohammad Ali got a five-fer for Faisalabad. Khurram Shahzad and Arshad Iqbal picked two wickets apiece.

In turn, Faisalabad was asked to chase 109 in the final innings. Raees Ahmed (34, 61b, 6x4s), Mohammad Huraira (33, 56b, 4x4s) and Irfan Khan Niazi (25 not out, 22b, 5x4s) chipped in with the bat to take the score to 111 in 30.2 overs, securing a win for the side by six wickets. Niaz Khan was the pick of the bowlers, picking three wickets in the innings. Spinner Sajid Khan also got one wicket.

Karachi Whites v Rawalpindi at Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi:

At Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi resumed their second batting attempt from 108 for six in 43.4 overs. They lost the remaining four wickets rather quickly, getting to the final score of 141 in 55.2 overs. Abdul Faseeh (50, 121b, 7x4s) was the top-scorer for the side. Jamal Anwar (26, 50b, 2x4s) was the other contributor with the bat. Mir Hamza shined with the ball, grabbing six wickets in the innings. Spinner Noman Ali also got two scalps.

Karachi Whites were tasked with chasing 157 runs in the final innings. The side succumbed the target in 57.4 overs at the loss of nine wickets. Veteran Asad Shafiq (36, 82b, 6x4s) was the highest run-getter for the side, followed by Ammad Alam who scored 27 in 96 balls including one maximum. Jahandad Khan had four scalps to his name, while Kashif Ali and Awais Anwar returned with two wickets each.

Scores in brief

Lahore Blues v Multan

Match Drawn

Multan 718 for 8 in 179 overs (Zain Abbas 118, Saim Ayaz 117, Sharoon Siraj 114, Mohammad Basit 105, Ali Usman 105 not out, Haseebullah 101; Qasim Akram 3-163, Hunain Shah 2-93, Kashif Bhatti 2-161)

Lahore Blues 578-6 in 162 overs (Imran Butt 255, Hashim Ibrahim 120, Qasim Akram 72, Hammat Butt 52; Ali Usman 2-142, Zahid Mahmood 2-173)

Faisalabad v Peshawar

Faisalabad win against Peshawar by six wickets

Peshawar 216 all out in 72.2 overs (Kamran Ghulam 64, Israrullah 55, Sahibzada Farhan 48; Mohammad Ali 5-45, Khurram Shahzad 3-64) and 205 all out in 65 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 92, Mehran Ibrahim 40 not out; Mohammad Ali 5-54, Khurram Shahzad 2-33, Arshad Iqbal 2-41)

Faisalabad 313 all out in 116 overs (Ali Waqas 118, Faheem Ashraf 60, Ali Shan 55; Sajid Khan 3-59, Abbas Afridi 3-59, Niaz Khan 2-70, Mohammad Ilyas 2-86) and 111-4 in 30.2 overs (Raees Ahmed 34, Mohammad Huraira 33, Irfan Khan Niazi 25 not out; Niaz Khan 3-22, Sajid Khan 1-22)

Karachi Whites v Rawalpindi

Karachi Whites win against Rawalpindi by one wicket.

Rawalpindi 243 all out in 84.3 overs (Jamal Akram 89, Umar Amin 32, Mubasir Khan 26, Jahandad Khan 24; Mir Hamza 4-61, Noman Ali 3-56) and 141 all out in 55.2 overs (Abdul Faseeh 50, Jamal Anwar 26; Mir Hamza 6-37, Noman Ali 2-37)

Karachi Whites 228 all out in 66.1 overs (Shan Masood 90, Ammad Alam 46; Kashif Ali 5-60, Awais Anwar 3-50) and 157-9 in 57.4 overs (Asad Shafiq 36, Ammad Alam 27; Jahandad Khan 4-49, Awais Anwar 2-34, Kashif Ali 2-49)

Lahore Whites v FATA

Lahore Whites win against FATA by an innings and 118 runs.

FATA 97 all out in 26 overs (Khushdil Shah 21, Aizaz Khan 14; Ahmed Bashir 6-21, Aamer Jamal 3-42, Asadullah 1-27) and 208 all out in 68.1 overs (Aizaz Khan 52, Khushdil Shah 44; Ahmed Bashir 3-28, Mohammad Rameez 3-45, Asadullah 2-32, Aamir Jamal 2-48)

Lahore Whites 423-8 (declared) in 100 overs (Tayyab Tahir 102, Umar Akmal 66, Imran Dogar 50; Asif Afridi 5-103, Sameen Gul 2-76)

 

[Savak]

County Cricket is over rated. England have very rarely won ICC tournaments and frequently struggle to win in Australia, India and Bangladesh.