Whereas the sweltering heat of May would be a real turn off for cricket fans, the expected participation of superstars or the big names of national cricket would certainly act as a "heat absorber", attracting the lovers of the game to stadiums, where the thrilling encounters of the last tournament in Pakistan's domestic arena start from April 29, 2001.

Yes, it is expected that the players unfortunately not picked for the England tour would like to grace the cricket stadiums as part of the One-day tournament (Associations), which concludes the 8-month long domestic cricket season of Pakistan. The notable names among these are Moin Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Humayun Farhat, Wajahatullah Wasti, Ali Naqvi, Danesh Kaneria, Shoaib Malik and others.

Currently, cricket teams from 12 cities are associated with Pakistan Cricket Board. After providing absorbing four-day encounters in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade I, these teams now lock horns in the limited-overs contests, whose final is due to be played on May 12, 2001

Unlike the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, whose matches were played on round robin league basis, the format of the One-day tournament has been changed. Now the 12 participants have been divided into two pools, comprising six teams each.

Pool A consists of Lahore Whites, Karachi Whites, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Bahawalpur, and Peshawar, whereas Pool B is comprised of Lahore Blues, Karachi Blues, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sargodha, and Faisalabad.

It is interesting to note that while the teams in Pool B will play their matches at the different venues of the Punjab province, all the matches of Pool A will be played in three stadiums in Karachi, namely National Stadium, UBL Ground No. 1 and Asghar Ali Stadium.

The semi-finals of the tournament, due 10th May, would be played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (top team of Pool A v second team of Pool B) and National Stadium, Karachi (top team of Pool B v second team of Pool A). The venue for the final, like most other tournaments, is the Gaddafi Stadium.

CricInfo has made arrangements to relay maximum possible matches of the tournament. So log on to the "home of Cricket on the Internet" and enjoy the exclusive coverage of these interesting limited-overs encounters on every alternate day from April 29, 2001.

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