Sheldon Jackson expressed his disagreement with the practise of using a player’s age as a reason for not selecting them to play at higher levels of cricket.
Sheldon Jackson is a veteran player in the domestic circuit, but his name was not included on either the India A squad that will play New Zealand A in three matches that last for four days or the Duleep Trophy squads that were announced earlier this week. Both of these teams will compete for the Duleep Trophy. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who is 35 years old, was left disheartened by the fact that despite the fact that he had produced good performances, he was neglected and the explanation given was his age. Jackson stated that he was being given that explanation because he was 31, whereas others above the age of 30 did go on to being picked by the selectors. Jackson was the oldest candidate for the team.
“If I want to play for my nation but I don’t even get picked for the Duleep Trophy because someone thinks I’m too old, how am I going to make it to the next level? I was anticipating that I would be selected for India A. There is no problem with anticipating it, and the fact that you did not choose me for the Duleep Trophy is incomprehensible. You should always make an effort to improve your skills and knowledge if you want to be considered a professional. It’s discouraging when progress can’t be made for reasons that are beyond my control “During an interview with Sportstar, Jackson stated.
“Why is it even taken into consideration that age is a factor? If this is the case, they are crushing the aspirations of at least 25 to 30 percent of the domestic cricket players who are in their mid-30s “He continued on to explain that.
“I am not speaking in their stead; rather, it is I who am doing the talking here. You can’t prevent someone from having the ambition to play at a better level just because you can’t. Since quite some time ago, I have been pushing for this particular cause.”
He continued by criticising the use of age as a criterion for selection, claiming that doing so “has just become a trick to not pick someone.”
“Even though I’ve been hearing this since I was 31 years old, people are starting to refer to me as elderly now that I’m 35 years old. Now that they have selected more than six people who are older than 30, the question becomes: how can this be justified? At the time, I was told that no one older than 30 was selected. However, if a performer is selected for his country when he is in the middle of his 30s based on his performance, then why isn’t this adopted for domestic cricket?” Jackson stated.
“I believe that it has just evolved into a strategy to avoid selecting anyone. You bring up his age whenever you don’t really have any other reasons to do so.”
He went on to say that despite the perception of him as a “frustrated cricketer,” he is actually a “happy person” who takes pleasure in living his life.
“I have been told on numerous occasions that he is an irate cricketer who is acting up to get his feelings out. I am a very happy person, as well as a very happy cricketer, because I can go home to a family that loves me. I have a lot of fun in life, and I believe that it is appropriate for a professional to pose questions to which there are no clear answers. That does not in any way pertain to the area of my head that I am currently occupying “he added.
