19 February 2005	Saturday	09 Muharram 1426

LAHORE, Feb 18: The first stage of the national women cricket championships, to be held on March 1-7, will be played on knockout basis. This was decided in PCB's women wing committee meeting presided over by chairperson Dr Mira Phailbus on Friday.

The tournament will be played at regional level with teams from Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Quetta, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Faisalabad confirming the participation. The four top regions of the knockout stage would be played in the super league phase, out of which, the top two sides will contest the final.

Matches will be 30-over-a-side in the first phase, 35-over-a-side- in the super league round and 40-overs-a- side in the final. The matches will be held at Qadhafi Stadium, Government College, University and Garrison Academy grounds. The final will be staged at the Qadhafi Stadium on March 7.

APP ADDS FROM RAWALPINDI: A 14-strong squad to represent Rawalpindi Region was finalised on Friday for participation in the forthcoming National Inter-region women cricket championship.

Seher Hayat Khan was named the skipper of the team which will leave for Lahore in the morning of Feb 28 while it will play its opening match against Karachi at Garrison Academy Ground in Lahore on March 2.

Besides the skipper, the other 13 players selected for the Rawalpindi Region team were: Fatima Iqbal, Noorul Ain, Maham Qazi, Rabia Hassan, Roohi Bano, Mariam Hassan, Maria Hassan, Sumera Aftab, Sara Masood, Zara Gul, Nayab Ahmed, Samreen Hashmi and Raashida Azad. The final 14 players were picked during the course of a training camp now in progress at Pindi Cricket Stadium and initially attended by 20 players.