ICC Introduces Minimum Age Policy For Players To Play International Cricket

[The Viper]

International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has introduced a minimum age policy for players to play international cricket and according to that, the cricketer must be 15-year-old to play the game globally. "The Board confirmed the introduction of minimum age restrictions for international cricket to improve safeguarding of players which will apply across all cricket including ICC events, bilateral cricket and U19 cricket. To play in any form of men's, women's or U19 international cricket players must now be a minimum age of 15," ICC said in a release.

However, in exceptional circumstances, boards could apply to ICC to allow a player under the age of 15 to play for the respective country.

"In case of exceptional circumstances, a Member Board could apply to the ICC to allow a player under the age of 15 to play for them. This could include where the player's playing experience and mental development and wellbeing demonstrates that they would be capable of coping with the demands of international cricket," it added.

Earlier, there was no bar on the age of a cricketer to play any form of international cricket.

Pakistan's Hasan Raza, who played seven Tests and 16 ODIs between 1996 and 2005, holds the record of being the youngest to play international cricket. The right-handed batsman made his Test debut when he was 14 years and 227 days old.

Former legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest Indian to play Test cricket for the country. He made his Test debut at the age of 16 years and 205 days. The Master Blaster scored 15,921 runs in Tests and finished his ODI career with 18,426 runs.

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/icc...players-to-play-international-cricket-2327802

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Was Raza really 14?

 

[hitthestump]

Hasan Raza being '14' is a joke on par with anything else we've seen from the PCB in the last 50 years.

 

[ElRaja]

Was Raza really 14?

no, but he wasnt too far off, from what ive heard he was late 15ish, maybe 16. even if u look at footage from back then he looks like a kid. hes wiry like a kid, very diff from how he looked when he was obviously an adult.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

no, but he wasnt too far off, from what ive heard he was late 15ish, maybe 16. even if u look at footage from back then he looks like a kid. hes wiry like a kid, very diff from how he looked when he was obviously an adult.

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The first picture you shared is clearly of his U-19 days as it says so on his cap and even in that he doesn't look anything even close to 14.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Also lol this is news only for Pakistan and Afghanistan to worry about

 

[angrypathan]

Should be a special rule for Afghanistan and Pakistan to have a minimum age of 18.

 

[Mamoon]

Moreover, ICC also needs to do something about the ridiculous age-fudging by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 2020, it should not be hard for ICC to determine the real ages of fakes like Naseem, Iftikhar, Rashid etc.

It is ridiculous to see the likes of Naseem and Rashid undeservingly break the “youngest to XYZ” records. It is blatantly unfair to the young players who are the real holders of these records.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Perhaps it's recency bias, but of all the years I have followed cricket (nigh on three decades), Naseem Shah appears to be the most egregious case of age fudging in the game. There are others, of course, Waqar Younis, Rashid Khan, Shahid Afridi to name a few. But Naseem's age tampering seems utterly insane given that he seemed to remain ageless for at least 3 years before he made his debut. The others at least have aged progressively.

 

[Mamoon]

Perhaps it's recency bias, but of all the years I have followed cricket (nigh on three decades), Naseem Shah appears to be the most egregious case of age fudging in the game. There are others, of course, Waqar Younis, Rashid Khan, Shahid Afridi to name a few. But Naseem's age tampering seems utterly insane given that he seemed to remain ageless for at least 3 years before he made his debut. The others at least have aged progressively.

Yeah, Naseem didn’t age from 2016 to 2019.

But I think the worst example of age-fudging in terms of difference between real and official age has to be Iftikhar.

He is probably as old as Misbah and Younis but according to PCB, he is the exact same age Root and Williamson.

I can’t imagine how PCB officials managed to keep a straight face when they submitted his documents to ICC or whatever the process of registering a player is.

 

[Officer Barbrady]

Yeah, Naseem didn’t age from 2016 to 2019.

But I think the worst example of age-fudging in terms of difference between real and official age has to be Iftikhar.

He is probably as old as Misbah and Younis but according to PCB, he is the exact same age Root and Williamson.

I can’t imagine how PCB officials managed to keep a straight face when they submitted his documents to ICC or whatever the process of registering a player is.

O wow so Iftikhar made his first debut at age 36-37 then? What had been doing until then? Playing backyard cricket with you?

 

[Mamoon]

O wow so Iftikhar made his first debut at age 36-37 then? What had been doing until then? Playing backyard cricket with you?

Iftikhar is from FATA region. Most people there do not have birth certificates.

Listen to what Saeed Ajmal has to say about Iftikhar. He stated that Iftikhar used to play cricket with his elder brother who is around 5-6 years older than Saeed Ajmal, and Saeed Ajmal is around 45-46 now. You can do the math.

Iftikhar is in his mid 40s and made his FC debut in his mid 30s. Before that he was playing club cricket for a long but was not able to get a break.

He has done extremely well for himself by competing against players half his age. There is no shame in how old he really is. Unfortunately, PCB made him into a joke by deciding to register his DOB as 1990 when he was probably fit for marriage in the year 1990.

 

[Mamoon]

Uneducated people in his region don’t have a clue about their ages. You would come across 80 year olds from FATA who claim that they are in their 50s.

The reverse is also true - a guy died in his 90s and his family claimed that he was 120+.

Iftikhar probably took a wild guess on his age when he first came into the PCB system and they basically took his word for it.

 

[Bewal Express]

The poor 23 year Afghans cant claim to be 14 anymore.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has introduced a minimum age policy for players to play international cricket and according to that, the cricketer must be 15-year-old to play the game globally. "The Board confirmed the introduction of minimum age restrictions for international cricket to improve safeguarding of players which will apply across all cricket including ICC events, bilateral cricket and U19 cricket. To play in any form of men's, women's or U19 international cricket players must now be a minimum age of 15," ICC said in a release.

However, in exceptional circumstances, boards could apply to ICC to allow a player under the age of 15 to play for the respective country.

"In case of exceptional circumstances, a Member Board could apply to the ICC to allow a player under the age of 15 to play for them. This could include where the player's playing experience and mental development and wellbeing demonstrates that they would be capable of coping with the demands of international cricket," it added.

Earlier, there was no bar on the age of a cricketer to play any form of international cricket.

Pakistan's Hasan Raza, who played seven Tests and 16 ODIs between 1996 and 2005, holds the record of being the youngest to play international cricket. The right-handed batsman made his Test debut when he was 14 years and 227 days old.

Former legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest Indian to play Test cricket for the country. He made his Test debut at the age of 16 years and 205 days. The Master Blaster scored 15,921 runs in Tests and finished his ODI career with 18,426 runs.

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/icc...players-to-play-international-cricket-2327802

Good news is, with this criterion, Shahid Afridi will make it to Pakistan team by a whisker.

 

[angrypathan]

The poor 23 year Afghans cant claim to be 14 anymore.

Yeah they'll just say they're 15. As I said earlier, Pakistan and Afghanistan need to have a separate rule of at least 18.

 

[Bewal Express]

Yeah they'll just say they're 15. As I said earlier, Pakistan and Afghanistan need to have a separate rule of at least 18.

To be fair, its not just Afghanistan, we are hardly innocent. The 3 players i know through people - Shadab,Najaf Shah and Mohammed Amir have faked their ages between 3 and 4 years. And these guys come from a well developed area of PK. The only way the ICC can deal with this is to ban the whole team even if one player has faked his age.

 

[Mamoon]

To be fair, its not just Afghanistan, we are hardly innocent. The 3 players i know through people - Shadab,Najaf Shah and Mohammed Amir have faked their ages between 3 and 4 years. And these guys come from a well developed area of PK. The only way the ICC can deal with this is to ban the whole team even if one player has faked his age.

Teams should be banned at the U-19 because that is where fudging makes a difference. Teams with fake 18-19 year olds have a distinct advantage over sides that are playing genuine kids.

However, at the international level, it hardly makes a difference to say India or England if Shadab is 22 or 26.

It is an issue only when these players achieve certain records because of their fake age.

Naseem and Amir are officially the youngest fast bowlers in history to take 5 wicket hauls. However, the actual holder of this record is probably Cummins who was a genuine 18 year older in 2011 when he took 6 wickets in SA.

That is why ICC needs take this problem. It ruins the credibility of records.

 

[Bewal Express]

Teams should be banned at the U-19 because that is where fudging makes a difference. Teams with fake 18-19 year olds have a distinct advantage over sides that are playing genuine kids.

However, at the international level, it hardly makes a difference to say India or England if Shadab is 22 or 26.

It is an issue only when these players achieve certain records because of their fake age.

Naseem and Amir are officially the youngest fast bowlers in history to take 5 wicket hauls. However, the actual holder of this record is probably Cummins who was a genuine 18 year older in 2011 when he took 6 wickets in SA.

That is why ICC needs take this problem. It ruins the credibility of records.

For me the problem is the damage to their countries not to U19 WC . Winning The U19 WC has as about much value as winning the biggest carrot competition, but it causes the misdirection of resources to average overaged players by countries like PK and Afghanistan, something neither country afford.

 

[angrypathan]

To be fair, its not just Afghanistan, we are hardly innocent. The 3 players i know through people - Shadab,Najaf Shah and Mohammed Amir have faked their ages between 3 and 4 years. And these guys come from a well developed area of PK. The only way the ICC can deal with this is to ban the whole team even if one player has faked his age.

Did you miss the part where I said Pakistan