Are PCB's imposition of age limits in domestic cricket lowering our domestic cricket standards?

[Savak]

The argument being made by the likes of Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Sohail Tanvir, Azhar Ali, Umar Gul and co is that every team and domestic structure requires a healthy blend of youth and older experienced players. Even if the older experienced players are past their primes and no longer performing as they used too, the knowledge, experience sharing, tips, ideas, mentorship that the seniors provide to junior players is invaluable.

They have cited examples of the County Cricket where the likes of Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, Marcus Trescothick, Alaister Cook played well past their primes, well past their international retirements and the experience they provided to the domestic players was invaluable. Similarly in Australia Allan Border, Merv Hughes e.t.c. continued to play Shefield Cricket even when they had retired from international cricket.

They are making the argument that forcing the same aged players with limited experience and limited skill sets is only serving to lower the standard of international cricket. Azhar Ali commented that he still plays first class cricket in Pakistan and given the PCB's imposition of age limits, he finds run scoring easier because youngsters after a while run short of ideas and don't have the experience of dealing with situations and conditions which do not favour them.

The biggest argument being made is that the PCB imposition of age limits will be detrimental to our spin stocks because spinners take a very long time to mature and the likes of Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah showed that they became even better bowlers in their 30's.

An interesting debate.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

It is an interesting debate

They are right. Domestic cricket could do with these types of players and their advice and input could be invaluable for youngsters.

The problem with Pakistan vs other countries is that our players retire A LOT later ( on average) and do block a lot of pathways for upcoming players.

You combine this with a system where meritocracy is secondary and caution and sticking to the old is part and parcel of the game then it can turn into a bit of a nightmare.

I'm not sure how you address it. Age limits aren't the answer but there also needs to be a way of moving certain sections of players on.

 

[Rana]

The stupidest decision is to keep Sharjeel out of this tournament. He’s one of the few batters that will test your bowlers with the new ball and put them to the sword, give them a real taste of how modern batters are approaching the game.

Only Fakhar Zaman and Muhammad Harris remain who will give the ball a real beating. Saim Ayub to some extent as well.

 

[Major]

good to see all the fat and unfit players are out and their fans are crying about it

 

[Shaka81]

Why does experienced players need to be over 35 and unfit? I'd rather see the experienced players being in their mid to late 20s with anyone over 30 still capable of playing at a higher level. All the ones who are complaining so far never took their careers seriously, didn't work on their fitness and crucially never provided any support for younger players.

 

[BouncerGuy]

The stupidest decision is to keep Sharjeel out of this tournament.

It was not PCB decision. He failed the fitness test. He is another guy who is not willing to let go of his ego and stay fit.

Although. I think fitness criteria should not be that harsh for domestic games but should be checked every now and then and that is what happened. He failed the test and is out of this cup. His age is also done and dusted. Accept the fact that he is history now.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Age limit is good criteria because in reality we are still allowing 40 year old uncle pretending to be 35 year old and still in the champions cup team. We are just not allowing 40+ year old cricketers to play in these teams which is a right thing to do.

 

[Rana]

It was not PCB decision. He failed the fitness test. He is another guy who is not willing to let go of his ego and stay fit.

Although. I think fitness criteria should not be that harsh for domestic games but should be checked every now and then and that is what happened. He failed the test and is out of this cup. His age is also done and dusted. Accept the fact that he is history now.

You don’t suddenly add stringent fitness tests because your openers score at a t20 sr of 110


Sharjeel has always been an exceptional player. Gifted lacer of pace! You need this player to see where you new ball bowlers are at

 

[Rana]

Sharjeel not playing Champions cup is a bit like Scotland banning George Munsey from their domestic white ball tournament because he looks overweight


Stupid

Stupid decision

 

[BouncerGuy]

Sharjeel has always been an exceptional player. Gifted lacer of pace! You need this player to see where you new ball bowlers are at

I like this idea. These kinds of batters can test new ball bowlers for sure. Waiting to see Fakhar doing the same.

 

[Misia]

back in the 90s when In my playing days like everyone else I was a trier, copycat fast bowler wannabe, playing Sundays in Asian league Saturday in English league Wednesday in midweek league. I remember a young lad a very good player in our town, who was only playing in English leagues his family was connected within Asian community highly respected, this kid would get a lot of behind his back abuse sucking to gorre all the sort of stuff because of the effort he was putting in to English league rather than Asian league.

Long story short

That same kid Allah bless him went on to represent a county and England!
The only Pakistani kid from my town to represent England

Pakistani mentality

 

[Rana]

I like this idea. These kinds of batters can test new ball bowlers for sure. Waiting to see Fakhar doing the same.

Well know your bowlers can test themselves against Imam and Abdullah Shafique….


I mean what’s their to learn?

 

[mominsaigol]

good to see all the fat and unfit players are out and their fans are crying about it

Bro I'm fine with this, but I question the fitness test?

How in earth did Saad baig fail? He's one of the fittest players I've seen? I can 100% vouch for the fact that he's far far far fitter then Babar, Chacha, shadab, Naseem and many others atm who've let themselves go and their pit bellies are very visible, Naseem and Babar especially.

Saad is 17? And even if you argue he's age fudged, their no way this kid is older them 21 or 22, he looks younger then me?

It doesn't make any sense.

 

[mominsaigol]

Sharjeel not playing Champions cup is a bit like Scotland banning George Munsey from their domestic white ball tournament because he looks overweight


Stupid

Stupid decision

Something isn't right. Saad baig also failed even though he's a 100x fitter then majority of the camp atm

 

[mominsaigol]

You don’t suddenly add stringent fitness tests because your openers score at a t20 sr of 110


Sharjeel has always been an exceptional player. Gifted lacer of pace! You need this player to see where you new ball bowlers are at

Sharjeel being added wouldn't even be fair? You're giving players can barely bowl at 130kph to a guy who enjoys pace more then anyone in the domestic setup.

Can you imagine the embrassment and how much of a joke the tournament would be? PCB would be a laughing stock cause a player playing in the retired leagues is murdering up and coming players lol.