ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2009

Pakistan in 2008/09 The first-class season in Pakistan consisted of no fewer than 124 matches, more than in any other country. This was despite the disruption caused to the international season by increasingly serious security concerns. When a planned Indian tour was cancelled owing to continuing disputes at government level about the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November, Sri Lanka stepped into the breach only to be victims of a further attack in which several players were injured. This caused the abandonment of the tour after two days of the Second Test (the First having ended in a high-scoring draw). In Pakistani domestic cricket, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy involved some 111 matches. It included regional and departmental teams, 22 in all, which were divided into two round-robin leagues. Group A, which consisted largely of departmental sides, resulted in a tie on points between Khan Research Laboratories and National Bank of Pakistan. KRL won on net run-rate. Group B, for regional teams, was comfortably won by Sialkot, who went on to beat KRL by four wickets in the Quaid-e-Azam final. The curtain-raiser to the first-class season was the RBS Pentangular Cup, which accounted for the other 11 matches. It involved a round-robin between five provincial sides followed by a final between the top two. North-West Frontier Province easily won the league stage, but prevailed over second-placed Baluchistan in the final by only 28 runs. Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2008/09: Final tables Group A P W WTF WLF L DWF DLF ND Pts NetRR 9 6 6 0 3 0 0 1 Khan Research Laboratories 10 4 0 1 0 3 1 1 51 0.489 2 National Bank of Pakistan 10 4 0 1 0 3 2 0 51 0.462 3 Pakistan International Airlines 10 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 42 0.747 4 Sui Northern Gas Pipelines 10 4 0 0 2 0 2 2 36 0.161 5 Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited 10 2 0 1 1 3 2 1 33 -0.256 6 Habib Bank Limited 10 3 0 0 2 0 4 1 27 0.146 7 WAPDA 10 1 0 1 0 2 3 3 21 0.263 8 Sui Southern Gas Corporation 10 0 0 0 4 5 1 0 15 -0.698 9 Karachi Whites 10 0 0 0 4 3 3 0 9 -0.227 10 Lahore Shalimar 10 0 0 0 4 2 3 1 6 -0.507 11 Pakistan Customs 10 0 0 0 7 0 3 0 0 -0.321 257