LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced 93 squads of cities affiliated with their respective provincial cricket association namely Balochistan, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab for the One-day City Cricket Association U-19 Tournament starting across the country on Saturday.

“The sides have been selected through robust and merit-based open trials where the PCB has spent around Rs10 million to ensure transparency in age-group cricket. The players born on or after Sept 1, 2003 and before Sept 1, 2007 were made eligible for

selection in the tournament. The players, who performed well in the last CCA U-19 tournament and fall into the age bracket for this year’s edition, have also been named in the side,” said a press release issued by the PCB.

It may be mentioned here that in the last season a significant number of overage players — after the age certification process — were selected for the U-19 inter-provincial tournament. The anomaly later forced the PCB to halt the tournament in progress.

“The 50-over tournament has been designed to provide teenage cricketers with an opportunity to impress selectors ahead of the divisional tournament and PCB U-19 three-day and one-day tournaments.

“The performers will also get a chance to get selected in the inaugural edition of Pakistan Junior League, the player draft for the league is expected to take place in August. The tournament is scheduled to take place in Lahore from Oct 1 to 15,” the release added.

Published in Dawn,May 21st, 2022