LAHORE: Club organisers have rebuffed claims made by the Pakistan Cricket Board that overage players had been excluded from the National Under-13 and Under-16 one-day tournaments, which resume in Karachi and Multan respectively on Thursday after being stopped earlier this month.

In a joint press statement, local organisers including former PCB Board of Governors member Noman Butt, Tariq Sarwer, Suleman Talpur, Rana Anis Ahmad Khan, Ijaz Farooq and Shahbaz Ali demanded merit-based true testing of ages as PCB announced new squads after finding 36 overage players in the Under-16 tournament and 20 in the Under-13 tournament.

The PCB said in a news release on Wednesday that a “thorough age assessment procedure was carried out over the course of the last 10 days”, which began after the tournaments were stopped on Jan 17, just three days after they had begun.

“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,” it said.

“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 Centre Nadeem Khan.”

Club organisers, though, called for a “detailed inquiry by an independent panel as new players included were also overage”.

Threatening a protest against what they termed wrong selections, they demanded Nadeem and PCB general manager domestic cricket Junaid Zia to immediately stop the tournaments.

There are 12 teams taking part in the Under-16 tournament while six are competing in the Under-13 tournament. The final of the Under-16 tournament will be held at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Feb 7, a day after the final of the Under-13 tournament is played at the UBL Sports Complex.

National U13 One-Day Tournament squads:

BALOCHISTAN: Abu Bakar, Adnan Ahmed, Ahsan Ullah, Asim Ur Rehman, Faiq Ali, Hamza Khan, Ikram Ullah, Khan Wali, Malik Awais, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Dawood, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Suleman , Saleem Jan, Tufail Ahmed

CENTRAL PUNJAB: Abdul Rameez Kamboh, Arham Danish, Asad Naeem, Aun Hassan, Awais Zubair, Daud Tauqir Rana, Hasnain Abbas, M. Ali Sabir, M. Essa Baloch, Reyyan Arshad, Sarmad Nawaz, Taha Asif, Taj Mohammad, Ubaid Ullah, Zaryan Ali

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA: Akbar Ali, Attaullah, Ibad Ullah, Junaid Khan Khalil, M Talha, Mohammad Zaid, Nafees Akhtar, Naveed, Saad Rasheed, Shoaib Khan, Zain Israr, Zain Khan, Zain Ul Abidin, Zulkifal Zain

NORTHERN: Abdul Ahad, Abdul Munim, Abu Bakar Minhas, Akhtar Gull, Bilal Bashir, M. Asad Abdullah, M. Yousaf, Malik Mohammad Khizar, Mohammad Muneeb, Mohammad Musa Hasan, Mohammad Sohaib, Mohammad Zohaib Abbas, Saad Abraiz Abbasi, Salar Nazeer, Syed Wajih Ul Hasan

SINDH: Abdul Rafay, Ahmed Ali, Ahsan Khan, Azan Ali Shah, Darain Faraz, Ghulam Ahmed, Hammad Alam, Hassan Khan, M. Abdullah Javed, Mohammad Anas, Mohammad Azaan, Mohammad Hamza, Mohammad Khan, Nafay, Talal Mehmood

SOUTHERN PUNJAB: Abdullah Latif , Abdur Rehman , Ali Haider , Faizan Riyasat , Hasnain Sajid , Hayat Khan , M.Abdullah , M.Babar Arshad , M.Qasim Ahmad , M.Usman , Maaz Ahmed , Mohsin Malik , Mohammad Umar , Rae Ali Amjab, Talal Ahmed Khan

National U16 One-Day Tournament 2021-22 squads:

BALOCHISTAN BLUES: Abdul Saboor, Anis Khan, Anwar Shah, Bakhtiyar Khan, Gohar Khan, Innam Ullah, Mubashir Shah, Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Asfand, Musharaf Hussain, Sumair Ahmed, Syed Yasir Shah, Talha Shakir, Zubair Ahmed

BALOCHISTAN WHITES: Arslan Khan, Aurangzeb, Ayaz Gul, Eshrat Ul Ibbad, Faisal Razzaq, Imran Sadiq, Mohammad Shahid, Mohammad Umar, Muneer Ahmed, Muzamil Ali, Siraj Ahmed, Syed Waqas Ahmed, Umair Ahmed, Usman Ghani, Zakir Shah

CENTRAL PUNJAB BLUES: Ali Hamza, Ali Raza, Areeb Arif, Faraz Ahmed, Ghulam Haider, Hamza Zahoor, Hunain, M Saim, M Usman, M. Farhan Yousaf, M. Hammad Arif, Mohsin Ali, Momin Qamar, Rana M Sarfraz, Shuban Saeed

CENTRAL PUNJAB WHITES: Aaliyan Salman, Abdul Majid , Abu Suffyan, Ahmed Yar Haider , Ali Hassan, Ali Hassan Baloch, Ali Raza, Ammar Qayyum, Arslan Riaz, Danish Saeed, Faham Ul Haq, M Yaseen Bilal, M. Tayyab Arif, Nouman Ali, Shahbaz Javaid

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA BLUES: Ahmed Hussain, Ameer Hamza, Azam Afridi, Hazrat Ali, Luqman Khan, M Sohail, M. Salman, M. Ubaidullah, Masi Ullah, Mian Yousaf Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Yaseen, Shahzaib Khan, Usman Khan, Zulkarnain

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA WHITES: Adil Waheed, Afkar Durrani, Hamza Khan, Huzaifa Khan, M Abbas Afridi, M.Awais Khan, Mansoor Maqsood, Mohammad Ansarullah, Mohammad Haroon, Mohammad Riazullah, Mohammad Shahram, Mohammad Shoaib, Mohammad Zubair, Roman Alam Khan, Ubaid Ullah

NORTHERN BLUES: Abbas Hussnain, Bilal Ahmed , Faizan Ibrahim, Hassan Ijaz , M. Hassan Khan , M. Nouman, M.Waleed Iqbal , M. Zain Jameel, Mohammad Arshad , Mohammad Asim Kamal, Mohammad Bilal , Mohammad Nabeel, Shayan Raza, Shazaib, Syed Ali Mehdi

NORTHERN WHITES: Abdullah, Aimal Alam Khan, Ali Ashfaq, Arsh Zaman, Arslan Ali, Asad Munir, Azaan Kabir, Hussnain Nadeem, M.Ammar Yasir, Mohammad Abdullah Sajid, Mohammad Ahmed, Mohammad Araiz, Mohammad Asmat Ullah, Mohammad Ziyan, Shahmeer Nisar

SINDH BLUES: Abdul Hadi, Abdul Moiz, Ahmed Muhiuddin, Ali Mohammad Metha, Farhan Zaman, Huzaifa Ahsan, M. Rameez, M.Talha Khanji, Mawaz Zahid, Musa Azad, Noor Habib, Saad Mahmoob, Saif Ullah Khan, Sufiyan Usmani, Yahya Shah

SINDH WHITES: Abdul Rehman, Daniyal Hashmi, Haroon Arshad, Hassan Sheikh, Humza Qureshi, M. Bahroz Baig, M. Rohan Khan, M.Ahmed, Maaz Shah, Musab Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Owais Rehim Shah, Shahzaib Ali, Shiraz Khan, Syed Rehan Ali

SOUTHERN PUNJAB BLUES: Abdullah , Ghulam Mustufa, Haseeb Javed , Inam Ullah , M.Aqib Arshad , M.Jan Sher , M.Saqib , Raja Sheraz (S) , Rana Adeel Mushtaq , Sameer Ahmed Minhas , Sameer Akhtar , Shahzad Ahmed , Sufiyan Ameen , Suleman Ahmed, Zain Arshad

SOUTHERN PUNJAB WHITES: Abdul Rasool , Abdullah Tauqeer , Ali Hussain Badshah , Bilal Khan, Fahad Kashif , Haseeb Ahmed , M.Ahsan Malik, M.Farhan , M.Hamid , M.Noman Asif , M.Umair , Rao Kaleem Haider , Shahaz Saeed , Sohaib Akram , Tayyab Mukhtar

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2022