LAHORE: The national junior selection committee has announced five teams for the trial matches starting here from Nov 27 to finalise the U-19 team for the forthcoming tri-nation series, to be held in Dubai and the 2016 Junior World Cup.

Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federal Areas will participate in the trial matches.

However, people in the know have expressed reservations over selection of the players, saying that around 17 overage cricketers have been inducted into various teams.

In a recent wrist test of twenty U-19 players, only three could clear the test with the remaining being declared overage. But the selectors, showing disregardto merit, selected the overage players while two of the three genuine U-19 cricketers failed to grab spots in any of the teams.

Around 20 players will be selected at the end of the trial matches for a two-week fast-track coaching programme at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in preparation for the tri-nation tournament and 2016 Junior World Cup.

Those who have recently been declared overage in the wrist tests but still got inducted into different junior teams include: Zeeshan Malik (Islamabad/Federal Area), Hamza Khan (Bahawalpur), Hassan Mohsin (Karachi), Saif Ali Ghouri (Karachi), Umair Maqsood (Rawalpindi), Irfan Liaqat (Faisalabad), Shadab Khan (Rawalpindi), Imran Rafiq (Lahore), Hayatullah (Khyber Pakhtunhwa), Samee Gul (Fata).

However, two genuine under-19 players namely Saif Badar and Aon Abbas could not make it to any team. On the other hand, Inayat Ali, belonging to Islamabad region and one of the members of Pakistan U-16 team currently touring Australia, was declared overage in the wrist test but he was included in the touring party.

When Dawn tried to contact PCB’s Cricket Committee chairman Shakil Sheikh, who is also dealing with the subject of overage players, he did not answer this scribe’s call until filing of the report.

When chief selector Basit Ali was contacted, he disclosed that according to the new decision, NCA official doctor would personally supervise the wrist tests as in the past many wrong practices were adopted to get some overage players cleared.

When asked about Inayat who is clearly overage and yet plays in the U-16 squad, Basit said his name was cleared by the NCA doctor before getting included into the U-16 team.

Recently, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has categorically said that only wrist test would be considered authentic for verifying the age of junior players.

Squads:

Sindh U-19: Mohammad Asad, Hassan Mohsin, Fahdis Bukhari (captain), Ammad Alam, Aashir Ahmad, Saif Ali Ghauri (Karachi), Kamran Rehmani, Daniyal Rajput, Ibtesam Sheikh, Mohammad Waqar (Hyderabad), Ali Haider (Larkana), Mohammad Umair, Ahmad Safi, Shahid Ali Khan (Faisalabad), Shayan Khalil (Bahawalpur). [coach: Tahir Mehmood].

Balochistan U-19: Mohammad Imran, Ghulam Haider, Imran Khan (Quetta), Osama Razzaq, Abdul Rasheed, Aftab Ahmad (Dera Murad Jamali), Imran Rafiq (captain), Ahmad Sultan (Multan), Mohammad Amir (Lahore), Hamza Khan (Bahawalpur), Mohsin Rashid (Rawalpindi), Asad Raza (Faisalabad), Hassan Shahab (Karahci), Sultan Mehmood (Abbottabad), Ahmad Afsandyar (Fata). [coach: Aslam Shiekh].

Punjab U-19: Gohar Hafeez (captain), Mohammad Waleed, Muhammad Saleem, Zahid Alam, Salman Fayyaz, Hannan Rafiq, Waseem Khan, Ghulam Murtaza, Mir Wais Khan (Lahore), Abdul Samad (Faisalabad), Umair Masood (Rawalpindi), Abdullah Shafiq (Sialkot), Irfan Liaqat, Yousaf Babar (Multan), Suleman Khan (Peshawar). [coach: Abdul Majeed].

Federal Areas U-19: Zeeshan Malik (captain), Amir Sohail, Shah Wali, Nasir Nawaz, Shadab Khan (Rawalpindi), Muzammil Shah, Najam Khan Khattak, Rizwan Ali, Muhammad Arsal (Islamabad), Wasif Ali, Amir Aziz (AJK), Arsalan Ajmal (Abbottabad), Hammad-ud-Din (Peshawar), Abdullah Shafiq (Sialkot), Ahmar Ashfaq (Multan). [coach: Abdul Rauf Mirza].

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U-19: Mohammad Umar Burki, Ibrar Ahmad, Samiullah Afridi, Hayatullah, Sameen Gul, Ilyas Ahmad (Fata), Nabi Gul (captain), Hamza Khan, Suleman Khan (Peshawar), Aqib Jadoon (Abbottabad), Safeer Azam (Lahore), Muhammad Sheharyar (Bahawalpur), Saqib Ali, Sajawal Khan (Sialkot), Faraz Khan (Multan). [coach: Saqib Faqir].

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2015