LAHORE, NOV 16 (DNA) – The Pakistan Cricket Board today released the preliminary list of Gold Category foreign players for the HBL Pakistan Super League Player Draft 2019 as well as a list of 325 local players who have been assigned Gold, Silver and Emerging categories.

According to an official press release, the list of 325 local players includes all cricketers from the domestic first and second XI squads as well as U19 cricketers.

As part of this year’s policy, players who have already represented Pakistan at the international level have been assigned a base category of Gold. The cut-off date for these records was the same that applied to category renewals of local players that took place last month. The list was reviewed and approved by Coordinator – National Selection Committee, Nadeem Khan and Head of Player Acquisition & Management PSL, Imran Ahmad Khan

True to its tradition of promoting young Pakistani talent, HBL PSL rules require teams to have at least two Emerging cricketers in a squad of 16. Players need to be U23 as on 1 January 2020 to qualify for this category.

Each team can now nominate up to six emerging players and up to two talent hunt discoveries that may be added to this list.

In the Gold category, 48 England, 40 West Indies, 19 Sri Lanka, 10 Bangladesh, six Afghanistan, four each from Australia and New Zealand, three each from Ireland, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and one each from Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland and the United States of America have registered.

Some of the most prominent players in the preliminary Gold Category are Samit Patel, Saqib Mahmood (all England), George Dockrell, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling (all Ireland), Anton Devcich, Jeetan Patel (both New Zealand), Dwaine Pretorious, Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell (all South Africa), Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dinesh Chandimal, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal, Upul Tharanga, Wanindu Hasaranga (all Sri Lanka), Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Kieran Powell, Shane Dowrich, Sheldon Cottrell (all West Indies) and Brendan Taylor, Kyle Jarvis and Sikandar Raza (all Zimbabwe).=DNA

=============