Pakistan delay naming Under-15 squad

Pakistan have delayed announcing their squad for the Under-15 World Cup, which begins in April in the West Indies, because several players were found to be overage after wrist tests were conducted on the 37 probables.

The Pakistan board's junior selection committee had selected a 15-member squad with five stand-bys to be handed over to the National Cricket Academy for the confirmation of their ages.

"Yes, there is a problem as some selected players have been declared overage and we are in the process of having some remaining non-selected players tested," Col. Naushad Ali, the head of the junior selection committee, told Dawn. "We will announce the team in the next couple of days after completing the tests."

The squad was selected after holding a national U-16 tournament in which 180 players took part, 80% of whom were U-15 according to their birth certificates.

"We decided to hold the U-16 tournament to pick players both for an U-15 team as well as the academy," Ali said. "The national selection committee has also given us a list of 18 players not to be included in the academy team due to their availability for the senior team's home series against Bangladesh.

"We will form a strong academy team for the tour of Bangladesh, despite not having the 18 players [mainly Test and international cricketers]."

The academy side will play a triangular tournament against academies from South Africa and Bangladesh followed by four-day matches.