When Imran Khan, the most iconic cricketer-turned-politician in the world, reached the corridors of power in Islamabad in August 2018, cricket pundits expected a complete overhaul of the first-class cricket structure in Pakistan.
He didn’t take long to nominate Ehsan Mani as Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, but the expected overhaul took a while to materialize. Some people may not agree with Khan’s politics, but when it comes to cricket, he is an absolute authority.
The Pakistan Super League final was recently played in Karachi between Quetta and Peshawar. Imagine the teams playing the final in the name of their corporate owners – Omar Associates and Haier. Would the crowd have turned out in similar numbers? No, because people would’ve never associated themselves with the corporate organizations.
That is precisely the point Imran Khan has been advocting for four decades. He has never refrained from expressing his dislike of the first-class structure in Pakistan. He has always supported the Australian model. Now that he is in power, it only makes sense for him to turn his idea into a reality.
So what is the Australian model? It is a domestic tournament – Sheffield Shield, in which six state teams – Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania compete in a double round-robin format. Each team plays ten matches (home and away) and the top two teams compete in the final. It is considered the most competitive first-class tournament in the cricketing world.
Pakistan is the only country in the world where teams representing some organizations have been competing with one another in premier first-class tournaments.
Some people may not agree with Imran Khan’s politics, but when it comes to cricket, he is an absolute authority
Many former Pakistani players and journalists staunchly believe that Pakistan, a country of 204.73 million people cannot ‘afford’ to have only six first-class teams in the domestic set up. They fear that this will result in a number of cricketers losing employment. They also say that the economic standing of Pakistan is incomparable to Australia.
What about other cricketing nations? Sri Lanka has a unique domestic structure which is based on club cricket.
Bangladesh, a nation of 164.7 million people has eight regional teams – Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal, Dhaka, Dhaka Metropolis, Chittagong, and Sylhet. Except for the inaugural season in 2000-01 when a Biman Airlines team played and won that first-class tournament, no team representing a commercial entity has participated in a first-class tournament. In 2015, a two-tier system with promotion and relegation was introduced.
In West Indies six teams – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Island, Trinidad and Tobago, and Windward Islands participate in the Regional Four Day Competition. Earlier, another team, Combined Campuses and Colleges, had competed, but following the recommendations of coach Richard Pybus in 2014 the West Indies Cricket Board excluded it from the competition. The tournament has a round-robin league with semi-finals and final to decide the winner.
After acquiring Test status in 1992, Zimbabwe held the Logan Cup, a first-class competition comprising five provincial teams in the 1993-94 season. In 2009, the cricket board in Zimbabwe introduced a franchise format in which five teams – Mashonaland Eagles, Matabeleland Tuskers, Mid West Rhinos, Mountaineers, and Southern Rocks participated. After the suspension of Southern Rocks franchise, Rising Stars – a team made of young academy players made its debut in the 2013-14 season.
Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe are no world-beaters currenty but they do have a better first-class structure than us. It’s high time we let the prime minister fix our domestic structure, once and for all.
The writer is a feelancer