Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh), Babar Azam (Central Punjab), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab), Imad Wasim (Northern), Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Haris Sohail (Balochistan) will lead six provinces in a new, streamlined domestic season set to begin next week. The welcome prospect of Pakistan's elite players taking part in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy - from September 14 - is partially offset by the reduction in the number of players who can call themselves first-class cricketers this season: 96, down from 256 last season.

According to the PCB's new model, each of the six associations will have a pool of approximately 35 players, split in half between first-class and non-first-class categories. In all 192 players will be offered a year-long contract (in each province Pakistan's centrally contracted national players such as Sarfaraz, Babar, Haris and others, do not get paid the provincial contract fees), with half playing first-class cricket and the other half playing three-day games, which don't have first-class status, for their association's Second XI.

The old model, which included 16 regional and departmental teams playing first-class cricket, was officially scrapped by the PCB last week.

Given that department sides have long employed the country's best players - because they can afford to pay more - a large majority of the 192 players selected are those who were playing for department sides last year; many of the players who populated the regional sides last year don't make the cut. Performances from the last three years of first-class cricket, the last two years from List-A cricket, and the last four years of under-19 cricket were taken into consideration before the squads were named.

Both squads - the First XI and the Second XI - for each association was finalised by a three-member panel comprising of Misbah-ul-Haq, Rashid Latif and Nadeem Khan. The provisional squads list was put together earlier by the ex-selection committee members - Tauseef Ahmed, Wajahatullah Wasti and Wasim Haider - and the present junior selection committee - Saleem Jaffer, Arshad Khan, Rao Iftikhar, and Taufeeq Umar - alongside the regional coaches.

Last year, 69 first-class games were played. Under the new structure, this season there will be 31 first-class games, and 16 T20s and 31 one-dayers. The squad for each of these formats will be selected from within the extended squad. The domestic season starts on September 14, with the first-class teams and Second XIs playing concurrently.

The Second XI's version of the country's premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, will include 30 three-day group matches, with a four-day final contested at Karachi's State Bank Stadium from November 26.

Balochistan Cricket Association

First XI: Haris Sohail (c), Imran Farhat (vc), Abu Bakar, Ali Shafiq, Ammad Butt, Asif Zakir, Azeem Ghumman, Bismillah Khan (wk), Hussain Talat, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Butt, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Asghar, Shahbaz Khan, Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, Taimur Khan, Taj Wali, Umar Gul, Yasir Shah

Second XI: Akbar-ur-Rehman (c), Akhtar Shah, Atif Jabbar, Awais Zia, Dawood Khan, Fahad Iqbal, Gohar Faiz, Gulraiz Sadaf (wk), Haseeb Azam, Jalat Khan, Mohammad Junaid, Nazar Hussain, Rameez Raja (from Pishin), Shehzad Tareen, Taimur Ali, Usama Razzaq

White-ball specialists: Akif Javed, Ibtisam Sheikh, Mohammad Talha

Central Punjab Cricket Association

First XI: Babar Azam (c), Ahmed Shehzad (vc), Ahmed Bashir, Ali Shan, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Ehsan Adil, Fahim Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Saad, Nasim Shah, Rizwan Hussain, Saad Naseem, Salman Butt, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Waqas Maqsood, Zafar Gohar

Second XI: Ali Waqas (c), Abdullah Shafiq, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Aizaz Cheema (mentor), Ali Zaryab, Asad Raza, Atiq-ur-Rehman, Ayaz Tasawar, Bilawal Iqbal, Farhan Khan (wk), Irfan Niazi, Mohammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Ali (from ZTBL), Raza Ali Dar, Suleman Shafqat, Zahid Mansoor

White-ball specialists: Nasir Nawaz, Nauman Anwar, Usman Qadir (subject to availability)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association

First XI: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Sahibzada Farhan (vc) Adil Amin, Ashfaq Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Sr, Irfan Khan, Israr Ullah, Junaid Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Ilyas, Musaddiq Ahmed, Nabi Gul, Rehan Afridi (wk), Sameen Gul, Umar Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari, Zohaib Khan

Second XI: Khushdil Shah (c), Ahmed Jamal, Akbar Badshah, Arshad Iqbal, Asad Afridi, Asif Afridi, Atizaz Habib Khan, Azizullah (from Peshawar), Gohar Ali (wk), Irfanullah Shah, Khalid Usman, Mehran Ibrahim, Mohammad Mohsin Khan, Mohammad Naeem (from FATA), Sajid Khan, Samiullah Jr

White-ball specialists: Imran Khan Jr, Mohammad Arif, Mohammad Mohsin

Northern Cricket Association

First XI: Imad Wasim (c), Umar Amin (vc), Afaq Raheem, Ali Asad, Ali Sarfraz, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Hammad Azam, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Nawaz, Musa Khan, Nauman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wk), Sadaf Hussain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Waheed, Waqas Ahmed

Second XI: Faizan Riaz (c), Ali Imran, Hasan Raza, Jamal Anwar (wk), Naved Malik, Raza Hasan, Salman Irshad, Sarmad Bhatti, Shadab Majeed, Shehzad Azam, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas, Syed Tauseeq Shah, Umair Khan, Umair Masood (wc), Usama Mir, Zeeshan Malik

White-ball specialists: Mohammad Amir, Sohail Akhtar, Zaid Alam

Sindh Cricket Association

First XI: Sarfaraz Ahmad (c), Asad Shafiq (vc), Abid Ali, Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam, Hasan Mohsin, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasan, Mohammad Hasnain, Omair Bin Yousuf, Rameez Aziz, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel, Shehzar Mohammad, Sohail Khan, Tabish Khan, Waleed Ahmed

Second XI: Mohammad Sami (captain and mentor), Rameez Raja Jr (vc), Adeel Malik, Ahsan Ali, Ammad Alam, Ashiq Ali, Ashir Qureshi, Danish Aziz, Ghulam Muddasar, Hassan Khan, Jahid Ali, Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Waqas, Rumman Raees, Saad Khan, Saifullah Bangash (wk)

White-ball specialists: Abrar Ahmed, Ahsan Jamil Mirza, Shahnawaz Dahani

Southern Punjab Cricket Association

First XI: Shan Masood (c), Sami Aslam (vc), Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Adnan Akmal (wk), Amir Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Imran Rafiq, M Irfan (slow left-arm), M Irfan Sr (left-arm fast medium), Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Abbas, Rahat Ali, Saif Badar, Sohaib Maqsood, Umaid Asif, Umar Siddiq, Wahab Riaz, Zahid Mehmood, Zain Abbas

Second XI: Naved Yasin (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Ali Usman, Anas Mustafa, Ataullah, Maqbool Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Ali Khan, Mohammad Basit, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Mohammad Mohsin (from Lahore), Mohammad Umair, Mukhtar Ahmed, Zeeshan Ashraf, Zia-ul-Haq, Zulfiqar Babar (mentor)

White-ball specialists: Ali Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sadaif Mehdi