ISLAMABAD, Mar 07 (APP): As part of the launch of the Pakistan Women’s League, the Amazons would be up against Super Women in the first of the three Women’s League exhibition matches beginning at the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi on Wednesday.
The women’s match would begin at 2 pm and will be followed by HBL PSL 8 fixture between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators, at 7 pm.
Pakistan’s 26 elite and emerging women cricketers would be joined by 10 international stars from seven countries in the extravaganza.
Two women’s umpires, Humaira Farah and Saleema Imtiaz will share on-field umpiring responsibilities with Shozab Raza and Tariq Rasheed.
The matches were a soft launch of the Pakistan Women’s League, which was tentatively planned in September. The four-team competition was expected to be held on a single-league basis.
The Wednesday’s match would mark International Women’s Day while the second game on Friday will be used to spread awareness about breast cancer in collaboration with Pink Ribbon. The third and final match on Saturday would promote women’s empowerment through education in collaboration with CIRCLE Women.
Pakistan’s most successful women’s captain Bismah Maroof would lead the Amazons, while Nida Dar, who has the most T20I wickets (126), will captain the Super Women.
Ireland captain Laura Delany, England’s trio of Danni Wyatt, Maia Bouchier and Tammy Beaumont, and Australia’s Tess Flintoff are the international stars in the Amazons, while the foreign players in the Super Women squad are Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, Lauren Winfield-Hill of England, Jahanara Alam of Bangladesh, South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Lea Tahuhu of New Zealand.
Wolvaardt was the top-scorer at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 with 230 runs and is the sixth-ranked T20I batter in the world. She is followed by Athapaththu (11th), Wyatt (16th), Beaumont (44th) and Delany (61st). Amongst the bowlers, Tahuhu is the highest-ranked foreign bowler in eighth position, followed by Jahanara (60th).
Beaumont and Wyatt have hit three T20I centuries between them. Beaumont hit the third-quickest T20I century off 47 balls while scoring 116 against South Africa in 2018. Wyatt struck the seventh and 12th quickest T20I centuries while scoring 100 (vs Australia) and 124 (vs India) in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Pakistan’s high-ranked players in the field were Bismah Maroof (33rd), Nida Dar (38th), Aliya Riaz (56th) (all batters); Sadia Iqbal (19th), Nida Dar (21st), Nashra Sundhu (26th), Anam Amin (37th) and Tuba Hassan (39th) (all bowlers).
Pakistan’s batting sensation Muneeba Ali would also be in action in the three matches. The 25-year-old left-handed bespectacled wicketkeeper/batter made international headlines when she scored 102 against Ireland in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. This was the only century of the competition and the sixth overall since the inception of the tournament in 2009.
Apart from Nida Dar, two Pakistan women cricketers, who have been adjudged ICC Women’s Player of the Month, would show their skills in front of home crowds. They were Sidra Amin and Tuba Hassan.
The 36 cricketers (26 local and 10 foreign players) have been equally divided into two sides with the playing line-ups to include a maximum of four and a minimum of three foreign players and a minimum of one emerging or U19 player.
Amazons captain Bismah Maroof, “I am super-excited for the upcoming matches.
The presence of foreign cricketers will especially provide our young and upcoming cricketers with a chance to learn from their experiences and knowledge, and incorporate these into their lifestyles, daily workouts and match preparations so that they can become better cricketers.
“Women’s cricket in Pakistan needed exactly this shot in the arm and I am confident these three matches followed by the league in September will accelerate the process of narrowing the gap with the top sides.”
Super Women captain Nida Dar said, “The PCB has done its bit by arranging these matches and now the onus is on the players to make optimum use of this opportunity and show the world what we’re capable of. This is a great opportunity for parents to bring their children and let them fall in love with cricket.
Squads (to be selected from): Amazons – Bismah Maroof (captain), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Areesha Noor, Danni Wyatt (England), Eyman Fatima, Fatima Khan, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Gull Feroza, Kainat Imtiaz, Laura Delany (Ireland), Maia Bouchier (England), Nashra Sundhu, Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Nawaz, Tammy Beaumont (England) and Tess Flintoff (Australia).
Super Women – Nida Dar (captain) Aimen Anwar, Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Iram Javed, Jahanara Alam (Bangladesh), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), Lauren Winfield-Hill (England), Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand), Muneeba Ali, Natalia Parvaiz, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah, Syeda Masooma Zahra, Tuba Hassan and Umm-e-Hani.
Schedule: March 8 – Shozab Raza and Saleema Imtiaz (on-field umpires), Tariq Rasheed (third umpire) and Humaira Farah fourth umpire. Mohammad Anees (match referee).
March 10 – Shozab Raza and Humaira Farah (on-field umpires), Tariq Rasheed (third umpire) and Saleema Imtiaz (fourth umpire). Mohammad Anees (match referee).
March 11 – Tariq Rasheed and Saleema Imtiaz (on-field umpires), Shozab Raza (third umpire) and Humaira Farah (fourth umpire). Mohammad Anees (match referee).