The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has suspended the Under-16 and Under-13 national tournaments in Pakistan due to age fraud. The PCB has decided to conduct a third round of bone age verification tests, following which the teams may be revised before both tournaments commence next week from scratch.
The High-Performance Director of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Nadeem Khan said that the visual assessment confirmed that the players were over-aged, and suspending the event was the right choice.
“After visual assessment confirmed that some over-age cricketers were participating in the U-13 and U-16 tournaments, suspending the events and conducting fresh bone age tests was absolutely the right thing to do,” said Nadeem Khan as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Nadeem also added that the PCB will not allow these overage players to take advantage of the flaws present in the system.
“The PCB, as the sole governing body of cricket in Pakistan, cannot allow over-age cricketers to take advantage of the flaws in the system and cause demotivation and mental stress to deserving under-age cricketers as well as their parents,” added Nadeem.
Nadeem also added that stating false age just to become eligible to participate in the tournament is a menace that has plagued Pakistan cricket. He reckoned that this practice needs to stop so that the integrity of the tournaments conducted by PCB can be protected. He concluded by stating that a decision regarding the future participation of these overage cricketers in further tournaments will be taken.
“Falsifying age to become eligible to participate in age-group cricket is not only an offence but a menace that has been plaguing our system. This now needs to be corrected to protect the integrity of the tournaments as well as to stop the exodus of young talented cricketers. A decision on their [overage players] future participation in PCB-organised events will be made,” Nadeem further added.
