Daily Times

KARACHI: A total of 270 boys from across the country will be engaged in National U13 and National U16 tournaments in Karachi and Multan from Thursday, 27 January following a thorough age assessment procedure that was carried out over the course of the last 10 days. The age assessment procedure started immediately after the suspension of the two age-group tournaments on 17 January when it emerged that a number of over-aged players were participating in both events. The two tournaments had begun on 14 January, the first step that the PCB took was to re-verify the age of all participating players, subsequently, a second and third wrist test of the players was conducted under the strict supervision of the PCB.

Simultaneously, a list of additional probables (potential replacements) was also made and wrist tests of the players were also conducted. After accumulating the results of the three wrist tests conducted by the PCB, a list of overage players was made and replacements were chosen. Before excluding the players from the tournament, the PCB provided them with an opportunity to present their case in-front of a panel, which was led by PCB’s Director High Performance Nadeem Khan.

Upon the completion of the procedure, a total of 36 U16 players have been declared over-age while amongst the U13 players, a total of 20 players have been declared over-age and were subsequently removed from the tournament.

Director High Performance Cricket Nadeem Khan: “We have run a thorough and a fully transparent age-verification process since the suspension of the tournaments on 17 January which has resulted in removal of a total of 56 players from both U13 and U16 events. This was a necessary step to protect the integrity of age-group events and to ensure that the menace of falsifying age is curbed as much as possible and in the longer run rooted out altogether from our system. From tomorrow, we start afresh and with renewed determination to identify and groom young talent for the years ahead. “As part of the Chairman PCB’s vision, around 45 top performing players from these two tournaments will be trained at high performance centres across the country, they will also be given a stipend and provided education scholarships to ensure their all-round development. We plan to hire world-class coaches who will train these players and give them the exposure that will turn them into future Pakistan stars.”

Meanwhile, 12 teams will participate in the National U16 One-day Tournament 2021-22 (45 overs) which will be played at five venues in Multan. The teams have been divided into two pools with all six Cricket Associations (CA) fielding two sides (one in each pool).

Balochistan, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab Whites will form Pool A while Balochistan, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab Blues will constitute Pool B. The top sides from each pool will compete in the 7 February final which will be played at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Six teams will participate in the National U13 One-day Tournament 2021-22 (25 overs) which will be played at three venues in Karachi. One side each from Balochistan, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab will compete in the group stage, each team will play the other once in the round-robin format. The top sides will proceed to compete in the 6 February final which will be played at the UBL Sports Complex, Karachi.