2022 U19 World Cup Thread

[Kriterion_BD]

Perhaps it was a misunderstanding and they used height as determinant of age? Maybe they misinterpreted the rules and just assumed anyone under 1.9m was eligible?
If you see a middle aged dwarf do you just assume he's 7?
This was all in module 6, if you'd paid more attention.

What's QDK got to do with over-age stunted Afghans? He's quite a short guy, what would you put him at? 14...15?

I'm saying that Afghans tend to be a taller people's, not like say Bangladeshis. I find it hard to believe that a team of Afghan men will be on average 6-8 inches shorter than a team of Zimbabwean boys. I find this to be mathematically improbable. On top of that, their facial features seemed like they were no older than 17-19.

[ZIMDOGGY]

Afghans are such cowards.

There's little need to be so harsh. The Afghans have done remarkably well by most accounts. They have gotten probably 10% of the gross funding that Zimbabwe have gotten, don't play at home, and have still produced some decent performances (1 U-19 Asia Cup championship, 2 U-19 world cup semi-final appearances, 2018 WCQ championship, several IPL/PSL superstars, beat a nearly full strength Bangladesh side in an away Test) on the world stage at various levels. They've really only been around for 10 years. Bangladesh were just beginning to be competitive at the 10 year mark (circa 2010). The only real blemish on Afghanistan's record so far is their 0 wins against top opposition in their first 2 ODI world cups - but they will probably get over that hump by 2023. Granted that is a very glaring blemish, but one they will eventually overcome.

Specifically the U-19 kids - lets not kid ourselves (pun intended) each Afghan lad was half the size of most of the ZIM lads - have had to face war, poverty, and vast degrees of uncertainty to get to wherever they've gotten. I mean look at QDK and how much he whined just for being asked to do the right thing.

I agree they have shot up quickly in cricket.
I wrote that after reading about the Klitschko brothers preparing to sign up for the front line to defend Ukraine, and I just think why cant Afghans stay and fight to improve their country. How can Afghanistan get better if everyone sneakily scurries away like rats at every opportunity?

[ZIMDOGGY]

Perhaps it was a misunderstanding and they used height as determinant of age? Maybe they misinterpreted the rules and just assumed anyone under 1.9m was eligible?
If you see a middle aged dwarf do you just assume he's 7?
This was all in module 6, if you'd paid more attention.

What's QDK got to do with over-age stunted Afghans? He's quite a short guy, what would you put him at? 14...15?

I'm saying that Afghans tend to be a taller people's, not like say Bangladeshis. I find it hard to believe that a team of Afghan men will be on average 6-8 inches shorter than a team of Zimbabwean boys. I find this to be mathematically improbable. On top of that, their facial features seemed like they were no older than 17-19.

They are taller than bangladeshis but all my Afghan friends are very short. One is so self conscious about it he wears special shoes and blocked me years ago when he challenged me to see if this girl he liked would go for me and him if we both chatted to her and she talked to him all night then left with me. His idea. Ive also seen the friends of friends ad they are all short.
I know there are tall afghans though. I think they are more like pakistanis or sikhs wherein you get some short ones and some very tall ones mixed in. They arent a tall race though.
Dutch, Scandinavians, Balts and the slavs take that title.

[Googly]

Where are you getting the 6-8 inches from? Have you got a list of heights? Are you implying the Zimbabweans are over-age? If the Afghans are the right height for 18 then our guys are 28 by your logic. Rereading module 6 will clarify some confusing issues for you.
It's a fact that good batsmen are often shorter than normal anyway, but that trend is changing a bit.
I'm going on their facial features and overall mature look, the very things that you are stating look kosher (you like what I did there? ).
Also going on their abysmal track record of fielding over age players. To assume they've mended their ways is a stretch. Once you start cheating you don't stop until you get caught and there are repercussions greater than a laugh and a slap on the wrist.
Also going on cricinfo stats of the one guy having to be 12 years old when he started playing pro cricket. I mean right there is concrete proof there's bullshit involved and that ICC are turning a corrupted blind eye.
Also going on the fact that some of the obviously older guys they claim are 17. They're assuming someone will question the age if its 19 but not 17.

Despite all that I acknowledge the obvious hardships they've endured, probably not too different to us Zimbabweans actually- life is a struggle here too, but it should not give them a free pass. ICC need to spend money ensuring everyone complies with age requirments or it makes a mockery of it all.
They are more successful because they come from a cricket crazy country and have a player pool thousands of times bigger than ours. Our grass roots cricket has been in an extended drought They have way more facilities that actually get used, despite probably being in disrepair. They clearly get financial support from outside of their board as well, there's no way the Afghan Board's limited budget would support that amount of cricket.
Zimbabweans need to hang their heads in shame. We neither have the will noor (see what i did there?) the ability to organise a single thing without the money and blessings of our all-powerful governing body. They engineered it and now we are dead in the water because of it. Everyone just stands there waiting for ZC to do something. Stockholm syndome at its finest. If someone tries they generally get cut off at the knees if it doesn't suit the agenda of absolute control.

[secretzimbo]

Even if you've looked at Afghanistan's past proven record of age cheating and decided that you think this time they've decided to be honest....

Even if you've looked at guys who very physically, obviously, look to be in the mid to late twenties and decided to ignore that, pretending they 'look about 17'....

Even if you've realised that these guys apparently made their professional First-Class debuts aged 12 and actually believe that....


You've then also got to look at the ACB, realise that a number of board appointments in recent months have been veteran Taliban figures, and then honestly think that 'Yeah, the Taliban are good guys aren't they? Really strong on the old morals and fairness. No way they'd ever bend the rules'

[Kriterion_BD]

Where are you getting the 6-8 inches from? Have you got a list of heights? Are you implying the Zimbabweans are over-age? If the Afghans are the right height for 18 then our guys are 28 by your logic. Rereading module 6 will clarify some confusing issues for you.
It's a fact that good batsmen are often shorter than normal anyway, but that trend is changing a bit.
I'm going on their facial features and overall mature look, the very things that you are stating look kosher (you like what I did there? ).
Also going on their abysmal track record of fielding over age players. To assume they've mended their ways is a stretch. Once you start cheating you don't stop until you get caught and there are repercussions greater than a laugh and a slap on the wrist.
Also going on cricinfo stats of the one guy having to be 12 years old when he started playing pro cricket. I mean right there is concrete proof there's bullshit involved and that ICC are turning a corrupted blind eye.
Also going on the fact that some of the obviously older guys they claim are 17. They're assuming someone will question the age if its 19 but not 17.

Despite all that I acknowledge the obvious hardships they've endured, probably not too different to us Zimbabweans actually- life is a struggle here too, but it should not give them a free pass. ICC need to spend money ensuring everyone complies with age requirments or it makes a mockery of it all.
They are more successful because they come from a cricket crazy country and have a player pool thousands of times bigger than ours. Our grass roots cricket has been in an extended drought They have way more facilities that actually get used, despite probably being in disrepair. They clearly get financial support from outside of their board as well, there's no way the Afghan Board's limited budget would support that amount of cricket.
Zimbabweans need to hang their heads in shame. We neither have the will noor (see what i did there?) the ability to organise a single thing without the money and blessings of our all-powerful governing body. They engineered it and now we are dead in the water because of it. Everyone just stands there waiting for ZC to do something. Stockholm syndome at its finest. If someone tries they generally get cut off at the knees if it doesn't suit the agenda of absolute control.

Facial features and mature looks aren't definitive. I mean Michael Jackson looked like a white woman if thats all we're going by. I look a good 5 years younger than my age, doesn't mean that I am.

One or two of the Afghan guys could have possibly been over age. Its not out of the realm of possibility. But you have to admit it was talked about ad nauseum.

[Kriterion_BD]

I agree they have shot up quickly in cricket.
I wrote that after reading about the Klitschko brothers preparing to sign up for the front line to defend Ukraine, and I just think why cant Afghans stay and fight to improve their country. How can Afghanistan get better if everyone sneakily scurries away like rats at every opportunity?

Afghans have been fighting for the past 50 years...Soviets, each other, Americans, each other again. The problem in Afghanistan is that no one group is a dominant majority and with so many different nations (Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras) just to name a few - I don't think they view Afghanistan as a country in the same way that Germans view Germany. Even in the US, there are many different America's: the educated and affluent coasts are a world apart from the poverty stricken countryside of Mississipi for example and they view everything differently, and increasingly now with animus.

How can Afghanistan get better you ask...well thats another more philosophical point. Maybe all countries and societies aren't destined for "betterment" on an objective scale. Afghanistan has been the world's chessboard for 50 years now, and no one's ever been able to get a checkmate. But pawns have certainly been captured along the way. Bangladesh will always be overcrowded and polluted...you can't turn it into Hong Kong or Singapore unless you cut its population by 85% and then somehow manage to educate the remaining 15%. You could also ask why can't Americans be more united? Well for starters we are a federation of vastly different states...Texas and New York will never see eye to eye on big issues...its a fundemental and intrinsic disconnect. The rural white and the urban black won't ever have enough common life experiences to understand each other's viewpoint...and thats assuming both of them are reasonable people to begin with!

[Googly]

Your analogies are remarkable, the MJ one is one of your finest.
Most contentious topics have been discussed here ad nauseum and yet here we all still are Your concession that "one or two" may perhaps be approaching old age is not bad, there's hope. You may yet be like Russell Brand, a woke lame something that's finally seeing the light. I'm watching his metamorphosis with much delight. By your own admission you're at least as smart as he is, you'll have no choice.
99.99% of the world's current problems, a number not dissimilar to the Covid survival rate, stem from unregulated shagging and the consequences of competing for exponentially dwindling resources.
Your American urban black and rural white statement is a great one.
Why should they have to understand each other's viewpoints? They're oil and water, neither have anything that the other needs, although that may change. Nobody tries to go and live amongst the Mormons.
Let them stay in situ and dislike each other's weaknesses and prejudices forever, who cares? Nobody is trying to make the Greeks and the Turks go in for a group hug. The problems arise when someone tries to make dissimilar people shake hands, it's usually a prelude to a legitimised theft of some description.
Americans have irreconcilable differences. If ever there was justification to split a country down the middle this is it.

[Googly]

North South would be a bit lame, they should go East West, or along a diagonal.

[Kriterion_BD]

North South would be a bit lame, they should go East West, or along a diagonal.

E-W wouldn't work because both NYC is on the east coast and Hollywood is on the west. Diagonal would also be unfeasible.

However, such a hypothetical division runs the risk of almost certainly leading to the evaporation of the more conservative half. That half would probably contain 40-45% of the population, 90% of arable land, but perhaps only 10% of the GDP. The more liberal half would have all the money, but struggle to feed its population (unless MIT or Stanford can develop in vitro foodstuffs) without trading with an outside food producer. But the Democrat areas would have the overwhelming majority of industry (Silicon Valley Tech, Ivy League education, NYC/Boston/San Francisco financial hubs, manufacturing and industrials (Chicago, +/- Pittsburgh), arts and entertainment (LA and NYC) as well as all the prestige all the Alpha and majority of Beta world cities would be in the Liberal half.