Domestic cricket fitness policy announced for 2026-27 season

The Pakistan Cricket Board through its Medical and Sports Science department has announced the domestic cricket fitness policy for all regional, departmental, district and zonal teams across Pakistan for the 2026-27 seasons.

The domestic cricket policy is a comprehensive fitness testing and fitness enhancing plan for players of all age-groups. PCB’s Director Sports and Exercise Medicine Javed Mughal has formulated a two-tier plan for players of all age-groups and domestic first-class teams. It has been devised in line with the demands of international cricket and kept simple, reliable, robust and repeatable.

The tier 1 of testing includes the 20 regional, eight departmental first-class and more than 25 Grade-II departmental teams, while the tier 2 of testing is for senior district, U19 district, U15 and U17 regional teams. Those in tier 1 will appear in 11 different Tests, while the tier 2 players will appear in a total of eight Tests.

In tier 1, the players will have 17 scoring opportunities across 11 Tests, while in tier 2 the eight tests will provide up to 12 scoring opportunities. Players can score up to 7 red scores and still pass the tier 1 test, while those scoring eight or more will be considered fail and can take up to one re-test. Tier 2 players with six or more red scores will also fail the test.

Players who successfully complete the assessment will undergo repeat testing approximately six months later. The expectation is that all players demonstrate measurable improvement from their original baseline. Players who fail the fitness test as per the above described benchmark will have to reappear in all the tests instead of the ones that they failed.

PCB’s approved strength and conditioning coaches will conduct the fitness tests at all the levels and will report back the results to National Cricket Academy and Medical and Sports Science department.