Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board on Monday announced Thirteen City Cricket Association sides of the Balochistan Cricket Association for the U19 City Cricket Association 50-over Tournament 2021-22, which will be held in the Balochistan province from 9 to 23 September.

The tournaments in Central Punjab, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab are underway from 5 September, while the event in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get underway from 7 September.

The Balochistan event is commencing after the conclusion of the age verification process of the players. As per the ICC’s eligibility criteria for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022, players born on or after 1 September 2002 will be eligible for selection.

The 50-over tournament has been designed to provide budding youngsters with an opportunity to not only impress the selectors for next year’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022, but also earn their nod for the National U19 Championship (three-day event) and National U19 Cup (one-day tournament). The two domestic events will be played from 3 October to 12 November.

The sides have been selected through a robust and merit-based open trials system, which were conducted by the national junior selection committee, national selectors and second XI head coaches. All the trials were filmed by the team analysts and took place in the presence of independent Cricket Association observers.

The U19 50-over tournament is a continuation of the CCA two-day tournament, which were held across the country with an aim to provide the talented youngsters with a chance to shine in the pre-season events.

These events were organised by the PCB, taking into consideration that limited cricket activity at grassroots and CCA-level was held
due to the Covid-19 pandemic.