Mirwais Nika 3-Day Tournament

The Mirwais Nika 3-Day Tournament is the domestic first-class cricket competition in Afghanistan and is organised by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). It became an official title in 2019.[1][2][3] The tournament is contested between teams from the six Region of Afghanistan, each representing a number of Afghan provinces.[4][5][6][7][8]

Mirwais Nika 3-Day Tournament
Countries Afghanistan
AdministratorAfghanistan Cricket Board
FormatNon-first-class three-day (formerly First-class (3-day) in 2018-19)
First edition2019
Latest edition2024
Next edition2025
Tournament formatDouble round-robin, then final
Number of teams5
Current championBoost Region
Most successfulMis Ainak Region
Band-E-Amir(1 titles)
WebsiteAfghanistan Cricket
2023 Mirwais Nika 3-day Regional

History

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The inaugural season of Mirwais Nika provincial three-day tournament starts from 15 February in Nangarhar’s Ghazi Amanullah Khan International Cricket Stadium and Kunar’s Cricket Ground. The teams that are set to participate in this tournament will represent their respective zones in the competition. They qualified based on their performance in the recently concluded two-day tournament. These teams are Kunduz from Amo zone, Kandahar from Bost zone, Kunar from Speenghar zone, Khost from Mis-e-Ainak zone and Kabul from Band-e-Amir zone. Each team will comprise of three players from their respective zone’s first class teams and top performers from the two-day tournament. The teams will also include one fast bowler each selected from the fast bowling hunt programme under ACB’s game development department. The hunt was organized in three stages as 18 aspiring fast bowlers were shortlisted for further camps. The inaugural season of Mirwais Nika provincial three-day first class tournament starts from 15 February till 12 March 2019 ahead of this year’s Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day First Class Tournament. Following the first season the tournament was changed and the matches were no longer accorded first-class status[9][10] and instead of provincial teams representing their zones, it was the zonal teams themselves that participated directly.

Teams

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Teams Home ground Years active
Amo Region Balkh Cricket Stadium, Mazar-i-Sharif 2019–
Band-e-Amir Region Ghazni Cricket Ground, Ghazni 2019–
Boost Region Kandahar International Cricket Stadium, Kandahar 2019–
Mis Ainak Region Khost Cricket Stadium, Khost 2019–
Speen Ghar Region Ghazi Amanullah International Cricket Stadium, Jalalabad 2019–

Competition format

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The competition is contested in a double-round-robin format, with each team playing every other team twice, i.e. home and away. Points are awarded based on wins, draws, ties and bonus points for runs and wickets in a team's first 100 batting and bowling overs, with the top two teams playing a final at the end of the season. Regular matches last for three days; the final lasts for four days.

Champions

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List of Mirwais Nika 3-Day Tournament winners
Year Winner (number of titles) Runners-up Leading run-scorer Leading wicket-taker Notes
Player (club) Runs Player (club) Wickets
2019 Kabul Province (1st title) Kunduz Province Nisar Wahdat 653 Parvez Amin 24
2022 Band-E-Amir Region Speen Ghar Region Mohammad Asif 594 Farhad Momand 20
2023 Mis Ainak Region Amo Region [11]
2024 Boost Region

Tournaments

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2019 season

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The 2018–19 Mirwais Nika Provincial 3-Day was the first edition of the Mirwais Nika Provincial 3-Day tournament, a first-class cricket competition in Afghanistan, that ran from 15 February to 15 March 2019.[12][3] The five competing provincial sides were representing their regions after having come through regional qualifying events.In the final, the match finished as a draw, with Kabul Province declared as the winner, after taking a first innings lead.

2022 season

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The 2nd edition of the Mirwais Nika Regional Three-Day Tournament is set to begin on June 1, 2022. The event features 5 regional teams which are scheduled to compete in a round-robin format at two venues in Kandahar province. A total of 11 games will be played in the tournament across 25 days from June 1 to 25. Mis Ainak, Band-e-Amir, Amo, Bost and Speen Ghar are the 5 regional participating teams that will play once against each other in the round-robin stage, with the top two advancing to the final. The competitions are considered to be quite important in terms of producing new talents and contributing to the development of the game in the country.[13][14]

The Mirwais Nika Regional three-day event is the 3rd of many domestic events that are included in the domestic cricket plan for the year and will be followed by first-class and List-A events later in the year.

2023 season

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The 3rd edition of the Mirwais Neka Regional Three-Day Tournament is set to begin on May 28 in Nangarhar Province. The event features 5 regional teams which are scheduled to compete in a round-robin format at two different venues in Nangarhar province. A total of 11 games will be played in the tournament across 23 days from May 28 to June 17. Mis-e- Ainak, Band-e-Amir, Amo, Bost and Speen Ghar are the 5 regional participating teams that will play once against each other in the round-robin stage, with the top two advancing to the final, which is staged for June 17–19 in Ghazi Amanullah Khan Cricket Stadium, Nangarhar. The competition is considered to be quite important in terms of producing new talents and contributing to the development of the game in the country. The Mirwais Nika Regional three-day event is the 5th of many domestic events that are included in the domestic cricket plan for the year and will be followed by first-class and List-A events later in the year.

References

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  1. ^ "Afghanistan domestic competitions awarded first-class and List A status". ESPN Cricinfo. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  2. ^ "In Principle Agreement to Constitutional and Financial Changes to ICC". International Cricket Council. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Provincial Three-day first class tournament to start in Nangarhar and Kunar". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Mis-e-Ainak Region Wins the Mirwais Neka Regional Three-Day Tournament 2023". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Regional Three-Day Event Begins on June 1st". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Regional Three Day Event Begins on May 28 The 3rd edition of the Mirwais Neka Regional". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. ^ "ACB Announces Domestic Events Schedule for 2023". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Mirwais Neka Regional Three-Day Tournament Begins This Friday". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Mirwais Nika Regional 3-Day Tournament 2022". The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Mirwais Nika Regional 3-Day Tournament 2023". The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Mis-e-Ainak Region Wins the Mirwais Neka Regional Three-Day Tournament 2023". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Mirwais Nika Provincial 3-Day: Fixtures". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  13. ^ "Regional Three-Day Event Begins on June 1st". cricket.af. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  14. ^ "2022 Mirwais Nika Regional 3-Day Trophy". ESPNCricInfo. Retrieved 4 November 2022.