LAHORE: A four-team U18 women’s T20 tournament has commenced in Lahore which will help in identifying the talented individuals ahead of the ICC Women’s U19 Cricket World Cup in 2021.
The Skills 2 Shine U18 Women’s Cricket T20 Championship is being played from 18-24 November on a single-league basis with the group matches at Bagh-e-Jinnah Cricket Ground and the final at Aitchison College Ground.
The teams have been selected after week-long trials across the country in which over 900 girls turned up. Players have been balanced equally to ensure healthy competition.
The squads were finalised by the national women’s selection committee – which comprise Urooj Mumtaz (chairperson), Asmavia Iqbal and Marina Iqbal.
The outstanding players of the tournament will go through a 16-day specialised academy programme, which will focus on skills, fitness and athlete development training.
Urooj Mumtaz, the chair of national women’s selection committee, said: “It is extremely important that we start preparing for the U19 T20 World Cup in 2021 and this is our first step.
“Women’s cricket has seen rapid growth over the past few years and we were overwhelmed by the response from the girls in the trials.
“The importance of age-group cricket taking place is twofold; this will help us in increasing the player pool of women cricketers in the country along with having a pathway program from junior to senior cricket.
The players will go through state-of-the-art programmes at the PCB s high-performance centres addressing all the attributes of the game from the onset of their cricketing careers. This will improve the standard of women s cricket in the country along with developing good quality athletes feeding into the Pakistan setup.”
Eastern Titans: Najiha Alvi (Karachi) (captain) (wicketkeeper), Aleesha Khan (Abbottabad), Alisha Ashraf (Karachi), Aqsa Hafeez (Bahawalpur), Insharah Asad (Karachi), Kainat Ahmed (Multan), Laveeza Munir (Lahore), Lubna Baqa (Bahawalpur), Mahjabeen (Lahore), Mahnoor Aftab (Peshawar), Manahil Sharafat (Lahore), Maryam Bibi (Lahore), Pakeeza Poonam (Faisalabad) and Zaib-un-Nisa (Peshawar)
Team officials: Kamran Hussain (Head coach), Ali Niazi (Assistant coach), Maria Gulnaz (Manager) and Sibgha Zafar (Physiotherapist)
Northern Renegades: Rimsha Rajput (Multan) (captain) (wicketkeeper), Aima Saleem (Islamabad), Aiza Khan (Bahawalpur), Anoosha Nasir (Karachi), Areej Zehra (Lahore), Bisma Amjad (Karachi), Fatima Shah (Islamabad), Gulrukh (Lahore), Humna Bilal (Islamabad), Misbah Gul (Bahawalpur), Rida Aslam (Islamabad), Shawal Zulfiqar (Lahore), Tehzeeb Shah (Swabi) and Zahra Jamshed (Lahore)
Team officials: Hajra Sarwar (Head coach), Shahid Mehmood (Assistant coach), Sumaira Hanif (Manager) and Saima Malik (Physiotherapist)
Western Warriors: Ayesha Naseem (Abbottabad) (captain), Asfa Hussain (Karachi) (wicketkeeper), Fajar Naveed (Islamabad), Haleema Dua (Lahore), Hania Ahmer (Karachi), Hania Zehra (Karachi), Kashaf Khan (Lahore), Laiba Fatima (Karachi), Maimoona Khan (Abbottabad), Nazish Rafiq (Lahore), Noorul Eman (Bahawalpur), Saima Malik (Quetta) and Samina Aftab (Bahawalpur)
Team officials: Wasim Yousafi (Head coach), Shakir Qayyum (Assistant coach), Rabail Khalid (Manager) and Komal Ahmed (Physiotherapist)
Analysts for all teams is Zahid Yaqoob
