LAHORE: Sindh will start their title defence when the opening round of the Cricket Associations Championship (three-day event) begins across three Punjab cities on Wednesday (today).

Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium and Saeed Ajmal Academy, Rana Naveed Academy in Sheikhupura and LCCA Ground in Lahore will host matches from 29th September to 14th November.

Sindh who recently won the Cricket Associations T20 tournament in Quetta will take on Central Punjab at the LCCA Ground in the opening round of the tournament. Balochistan will take on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, while Southern Punjab will face Northern at the Rana Naveed Academy in Sheikhupura.

The Cricket Associations Championship will be played on a double-league basis with each team playing the other twice.

The final round of the tournament will be held from 12th to 14th November. The team accumulating the most points will be declared winners.

Balochistan Second XI captain Azeem Ghumman said, "Our preparations for the three-day tournament are good. We had some practice sessions recently and we are hopeful of doing well. We have a good combination of young and experienced players in the squad. We have good all-round players available in our team and with three to four experienced batters in our squad we look to do well in batting department."

Central Punjab Second XI captain Ali Shan said, "We are fully prepared to do well in the red-ball tournament. We had couple of good sessions before the start of the tournament and we are eager to perform on the ground. Our fast bowling department is very strong and with seasonal batters in the squad, we are looking to produce some good performances in the tournament."

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Second XI captain Waqar Ahmed said, "We had a good one week preparations camp to get ourselves ready for the tournament. We have a young and energetic squad who are excited to perform in all three departments of the game."

Northern Second XI captain Umar Waheed said, "The preparations for the tournament are well on track as we have worked hard to rectify mistakes made in the last season. The combination of the team is well balanced with good spinners, the players know each other well which will help us to do well on the ground."

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