LAHORE: While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already unveiled domestic season, as many as 291 teenagers will undergo trials for the six Under-19 Cricket Associations sides, a spokesman of the board announced on Saturday.
The trials, which will be held from September 11 to 19, will be conducted by a four-member selection panel comprising Saleem Jaffar, Sanaullah Baloch, Taufiq Umar and Wajahatullah Wasti, following which teams for the national Under-19 tournaments will be announced.
Each major cricket centre of every Cricket Association will host trial matches over two days. On 11th and 12 September, Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan, and Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad, will hold trials for Southern Punjab Under-19 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U-19, respectively. LCCA Ground, Lahore, and Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, will play hosts to trial matches for Central Punjab U-19 and Northern U-19 sides on 14th and 15th September after which trial matches to select the Sindh U-19 team will be staged at Karachi's National Stadium on 17th and 18th September. Bugti Stadium, Quetta will be hosting trial matches on 18th and 19th September for selection of the Balochistan U-19.
The players invited to appear for the trials include those who have represented Pakistan U-19, those who played U-19 tournaments in the 2019-20 domestic season; those who played U-16 tournaments in the 2018-19 and 2017-18 domestic seasons and top performers of the Inter-district tournament 2018-19.
Strict COVID-19 protocols will be implemented to ensure health and safety of players. As such, temperature checks will be done on entry points of the venues. Players will have to wear masks when not inside the boundary ropes and maintain social distancing at any given time. Sharing of equipment and use of saliva on ball will not be allowed, a PCB spokesman said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020