LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab squads for the Under-19 City Cricket Association 50-over tournament 2021-22.

The tournament in the jurisdictions of Central Punjab, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab will begin on 5 September, while the event in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get under way from 7 September. As regards the Balochistan event, age verification process of the players is ongoing and the squads along with the event schedule will be announced following the completion of the age verification process.

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 U-19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022, but also earn their nod for the PCB U-19 three-day and one-day Championships 2021-22. The two domestic events will be played from 3rd October to 12th 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.

As per the ICC’s eligibility criteria for the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022, players born on or after 1st September 2002 will be eligible to get selected.

The U-19 50-over tournament is a continuation of the CCA two-day tournament, which was held across the country with an aim to provide the talented youngsters with a chance to shine in the pre-season tournaments. These events were organised by the PCB, taking into consideration that limited cricket activity at grassroots and CCA-level were held due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Like the CCA two-day tournament, the U-19 50-over competition matches will be covered digitally.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021