Age fraud has been one of the most persistent integrity issues in youth cricket worldwide. In 2017, the ICC intensified its crackdown, resulting in multiple players from different nations being banned from age-group cricket after failing verification tests. The issue was particularly prevalent in South Asian and African cricket, where birth registration systems were less robust.
The ICC's age verification program involved mandatory wrist X-rays for all players participating in U19 World Cups and regional tournaments. These bone density tests estimate skeletal age and, while not perfectly precise, can identify cases where a player is significantly older than claimed. Players found to be overage faced bans from all ICC youth events and, in some cases, domestic cricket as well.
Several countries were embarrassed when their players were caught. In some cases, players were found to be three to five years older than their claimed age, meaning "Under-19" players were actually in their early to mid-twenties. The practice was seen as doubly unfair — not only did it give overage players a physical advantage over genuine teenagers, but it also deprived legitimately age-qualified players of opportunities to represent their countries.
The crackdown sent a strong message, but the problem has proven difficult to eradicate entirely. The root causes — inadequate birth registration, pressure on young players and their families to secure professional contracts, and inconsistent enforcement across different cricket boards — remain. The ICC has continued to invest in better verification technology and has pushed member boards to improve their domestic age verification processes.