Pakistan domestic cricket

A brief history ...

Kanishkaa Balachandran

Domestic history | Patron's Trophy | Quaid-E-Azam Trophy |

Pentangular Trophy
The Pentangular Trophy is contested between five teams which play each other on a round-robin basis and the team with the highest points is declared the winner. Initially, the Pakistan board decided which five teams would be included in the tournament, but later a qualification system was introduced. On most occasions, the top three teams of the particular season's Patron's Trophy qualified and the other two were the winners and runners-up of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. However, the tournament didn't always have five teams, as the name would suggest. Six teams took part in its second season without changing the title. There were up to ten teams in the late '70s, and the title was changed to the BCCP Invitation Tournament. Pakistan Automobile Corporation (PACO) was the tournament's first sponsor in 1980-81 and the title was changed to the PACO Cup for five seasons. However, the tournament never remained a permanent fixture, with it being discontinued for nearly six years after that. The title reverted to the Pentangular Trophy and made sporadic appearances in the 1990s. It was revived in the 2005-06 season after a gap of nearly ten years.

Winners

One-day tournaments
Domestic one-day tournaments in Pakistan have often lacked structure and continuity, with tournaments being launched and discontinued frequently. The premier competition was the Wills Cup, which commenced in 1980-81 as a 45-overs-a-side contest. The Wills Gold Flake League was added in the early 1990s but lasted only five seasons. The advent of ABN -AMRO as a sponsor in 2004-05 was a fillip to domestic cricket in Pakistan, taking over the sponsorship of three limited-overs tournaments - the ABN-AMRO Cup (between regions), Patrons Cup (between departments) and the new Twenty20 tournament. The ABN-AMRO Cup has teams divided into two leagues - Gold and Silver - with a winner emerging from each league. The Patrons Cup is contested between departments.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is editorial assistant of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo

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