16 February 2005	Wednesday	06 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: Manager and coach were named Tuesday for the Rawalpindi region team scheduled to take part in the National Inter-region women's cricket championship.

Farah Naz will be the manager while former Test cricketer and ex-international umpire Javed Akhter will be the coach of the Rawalpindi region team, said former Test cricketer, Col. (r) Naushad, who is the Pakistan Cricket Board-appointed Regional Development Manager for Rawalpindi.

He said the start of training camp to raise Rawalpindi region team for the national championship had been rescheduled for Thursday in the wake of rains in the twin cities.

The camp was to start at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday but had to be delayed till Thursday due to rains. "Nevertheless, 12 ladies, out of the 20 selected for the camp, gathered at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday," Naushad said.

He said final 14 players for the national event at Qadhafi Stadium in Lahore, to be played March 1-7, would be named a few days after the start of fortnight-long training camp.

The Rawalpindi region team will leave for Lahore tentatively on Feb 28. The 20 women players selected for the camp training by a three-member selection panel were: Seher Hayat, Maryam Hassan, Maham Asif, Roohi Bano, Fatima Iqbal, Rashida Azad, Fareen Hussain, Mahjabeen Hussain, Sara, Saleema (all-rounders), Rabia Hassan, Benazir (wicket keepers), Robina, Seemab, Farah Iqbal, Quratul Ain, Alisha Khan, Noorul Ain, Kanwal Fatima and Sidra Malik (batting).

The three-member selection committee was headed by Javed Akhter and included Nighat Saeed and Talat Farooq. -APP