LAHORE: The Regional Inter-District Senior competition 2023–2024 will get under way on Sunday, 16 July, featuring 104 teams from 101 districts/zones. Top finishers from this competition will increase their prospects of representing their areas in the PCB’s important domestic competitions, which will begin in September.
As many as 259 matches will be played across the country with matches in the Abbottabad, AJK, Bahawalpur, Dera Murad Jamali, FATA, Hyderabad, Karachi, Larkana, Quetta and Sialkot Regions to start from 16 July, Multan to host matches from 19 July while matches in the Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Rawalpindi to be played from 24 July.
Each match will be of three days’ duration with first innings limited to 75 overs-per-side. Nine points will be awarded for an outright win with first innings lead, six points will be awarded for a win without first innings lead and three points for first innings lead in a drawn match.
As per the tournament regulations, each side will be allowed to make a maximum of two changes in their playing line-ups but after every two matches. This is to ensure the players get a fair chance to demonstrate their talent as well as to provide maximum players the opportunity to stake a claim for places in the regional squads.
As Quetta and FATA Regions have 10 districts each, the sides have been equally divided into two groups with the final to be played from 7-9 August. Matches in the other 14 regions will be played on a single-league basis with the table-toppers to be adjudged winners.
The 16 regions include Abbottabad (seven districts), AJK (five districts), Bahawalpur (seven districts), Dera Murad Jamali (five districts), Faisalabad (six districts), FATA (10 districts), Hyderabad (seven districts), Islamabad (four zones and one district), Karachi (seven zones), Lahore (three zones; six teams), Larkana (six districts), Multan (seven districts), Peshawar (five districts), Quetta (10 districts), Rawalpindi (four districts) and Sialkot (seven districts).
The 104 squads have been finalised based on a selection criteria*, which was agreed by representatives of all the districts. The regional/district selection committees comprising head/assistant coaches and district representatives prepared first drafts of their respective squads, which were subsequently assessed and approved by the PCB Review Panel, including former first-class cricketers Javed Hayat, Kamran Khan, Sanaullah Baloch and Waqar Orakzai.
*Selection criteria (in pecking order):
- Players who have represented Pakistan U19 in the past two years but are now over-aged
- Players who featured in last year’s U19 events but are now over-aged
- Top three most successful batters and top two most successful bowlers from last year’s district/CCA events
- Outstanding performers from last year’s divisional competition
- Talented players who were unable to perform in last year’s Second XI event
- Remaining players not fulfilling the above criteria but impressing selectors via trials
