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Jamshedpur, March 9 (Source - The Telegraph): It will be some time before the young willow warriors take to the field and prove their prowess with the bat.
The Jharkhand State Cricket Association’s (JSCA) school league, which was supposed to start today, has been deferred after the participating institutes created a furore over the age limit. According to sources, the 30-odd city schools are unhappy with the JSCA’s move to restrict the tournament to students below 15 years of age, arguing the condition would rake up problems while constituting teams.
As a result, the cricket authorities have postponed the matches till further notice.
The association has convened a meeting with school representatives on March 11 to thrash out a solution. The meeting to be held at JSCA conference room will discuss means to salvage the tournament, which provides a big opportunity to school players to showcase their talent.
JSCA secretary Rajesh Verma confirmed that the league had been postponed. “We have called a meeting with our affiliated schools to discuss the issue. Fresh dates for the matches will be declared after it,” he added.
“Organising the school league with age restriction is not right. It will lead to problems during team selection,” said Khurshid Akhtar Khan, the games in-charge of Kasidih High School.
According to him, it will be impossible to form an outfit with exclusively Under-14 players. “What about the boys who fall in the higher age category? They will be deprived of an opportunity to play. This is not fair. The JSCA should organise a separate U-14 tournament from the next season. For this season, the league should follow the rules of the previous years,” Khan said.
A games teacher of another school echoed Khan, saying that above-14 players would be forced to sit idle. “Some of our students play in the local JSCA-B division league, but most don’t get that opportunity. Moreover, it’s not necessary that all Under-14 boys will be interested in the game. A tournament with an open age category is the best option,” he added.
In fact, the JSCA had been organising the school league in the open-age category till now. But they changed the rule this year to make it a cricket tournament for only Under-14 players.
Jittu Patel, the school and club representative of JSCA, said efforts would be made to reach a consensus at the meeting. Sources in the JSCA said the league was expected to start from March 25.
