KARACHI: After the entire Group A was completed on Thursday in the 2008-09 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Cup National One-day Cricket Championship, the second round of matches starts at various grounds of the country from Saturday (today).
Multan Tigers have already become the first team of the 22 regional and departmental cricket associations of Pakistan to hop over into the final. In their six-team pool, the Multan outfit returned a hundred percent record with five straight wins.
The other teams in Multan's group were Karachi Dolphins, Rawalpindi Rams, Hyderabad Hawks, Abbottabad Rhinos and Quetta Bears.
Seven first-round matches were played in the other three grounds on March 11 and 12, before the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to postpone these encounters until today due to the uncertain political situation in the country.
The two semifinals will now be played at Lahore and Faisalabad on March 30. The final has been scheduled to be played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on April 1.
In Group B, Islamabad Leopards and Faisalabad Wolves won their respective solitary matches and Lahore Lions and Peshawar Panthers were defeated. In Group C, the two winners were Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), with Pakistan Customs and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) the two beaten sides.
Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Lahore Eagles and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) won their respective matches in Group D while the beaten sides here last week were defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Karachi Zebras and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).
In Group B today, Islamabad Leopards will play against Faisalabad Wolves at Diamond Club Ground Islamabad and Lahore Lions will face Sialkot Stallions at Lahore Country Club Muridke.
Also on Saturday, in Group C Pakistan Customs come up against ZTBL at the KRL Stadium Rawalpindi and PIA are playing against Sui Southern Gas Corporation (SSGC) at Marghzar Cricket Ground Islamabad.
One Group D match has been set aside for today for NBP and WAPDA at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad. The other two matches in the Group D second round have been scheduled for Sunday: between HBL and Lahore Eagles at Lahore City Cricket Association Ground Lahore and Karachi Zebras v SNGPL at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Limited overs one-day cricket, consisting of 35 (eight-ball), 40 or 50-over matches, was introduced in Pakistan soon after official One-day International matches made their mark in early 1971. The inaugural such domestic competition here was the Pakistan Television (PTV) Trophy in 1971-72, several matches of which were also telecast.
The PTV Trophy lasted only one season though. It was won by the PIA with Lahore (Division) ending as the runners-up.
Various other tournaments followed, like the Servis Cup, the United Bank Limited (UBL) Trophy and the Habib Bank Gold Cup. These too didn't last long, till the Wills Cup, sponsored by the Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC), was introduced in March 1981. For the next seventeen (17) years, the Wills Cup reigned supreme as the country's premier natioal limited overs contest.
PIA and Habib Bank, six times each, won the Wills Cup the most times. The other champions were National Bank and Allied Bank Limited (ABL) twice each and United Bank on one occasion.
Since 2004-05, Pakistan's domestic cricket has found a new sponsor in the ABN-AMRO Bank (now the RBS) and the various competitions now bear their tag. Apart from the National One-day (Quaid-e-Azam) Cup and the Patron's Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also began a new limited overs contest in December last year by the name of the Pentangular Cup, which was won in its inaugural season by the Punjab Stallions.
Since 1971, of all the one-day tournaments played in Pakistan, PIA and Habib Bank remain the leading outfits with 12 such titles each. National Bank have been champions on 11 occasions.
Among the other teams, Karachi lead the table with six trophies, followed by United Bank, Allied Bank and Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP, now known as ZTBL) three times each.
Lahore and Faisalabad twice each and Sind, Multan, PCB Reds, Peshawar, SNGPL, WAPDA and Punjab all have won various limited overs titles once each. In addition, Lahore and Islamabad have shared one-day trophies on two occasions each.
