KARACHI: Chairperson Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Women’s Wing Shireen Javed has come up with a working plan to keep the women cricketers active and trained in times when there are no foreign teams visiting Pakistan nor any international tours planned.

Speaking to Dawn on Saturday, Shireen who recently returned to Pakistan from the US said that she had been involved in planning a strategy to utilise coaches employed by the PCB and stationed all over the country.

‘The girls have been sitting idle for so long now. This inactivity is not good for them at all, so I am going to have them attached to a coach in the cities where they are located. There are so many coaches employed by the PCB who can be utilised in providing quality coaching to our girls. That way they can practice as frequently as three or four times a week while the coaches can assess them properly and also send me regular reports about their progress,’ she elaborated.

On being asked the reason behind the girls sitting idle for so long she said: ‘As we all know no foreign teams want to visit here due to their security concerns. The next World Twenty20 is scheduled for the end of May next year and the girls are badly in need of international exposure. We wanted to tour South Africa but they informed us that they were already hosting West Indies. Then when we planned a tri-nation tournament at a neutral venue such as Malaysia with Sri Lanka and perhaps the hosts, too, we were informed by Sri Lanka that they were running short of funds to travel.’

About the wing’s own domestic season, the chairperson said that she had sent their programme to the PCB Director General Javed Miandad for approval.

‘He will also be taking the women’s team to China around October 20 and I want to organise two domestic tournaments each for our junior (under-17) and senior teams before that. It is after all the domestic tournaments through which one can unearth talent here,’ she said.

The women’s wing head also mentioned that she had recently got playing contracts for all the girls in the national team with the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). ‘I’m glad to report that they are getting Rs10,000 a month and are to be excused for national duty. I’m also going to approach Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Railways to hire our cricketers in their sports departments,’ she said.

Meanwhile, PCB Director General Javed Miandad, when asked about the details of the forthcoming tour of China and other matters related to women’s cricket, said: ‘It’s an invitational tour of China where I think the girls should go. It was only after being appointed cricket ambassador to China that I realised how much women’s cricket is popular in Asia. I recently attended a tournament organised by the Asian Women’s Cricket Association featuring eight countries comprising China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar and even Iran. I was very impressed.

‘But to know that we have a women’s cricket team, too, which is far better than all these countries still playing at the beginning-level is something to be very proud of. We should be promoting our team, which is really not happening,’ he pointed out.

When asked how that could be done when they don’t even have any tours or a domestic season, the former Test player said: ‘We can best serve women’s cricket in Pakistan by giving it an independent board.’

He explained: ‘Right now they are dependant on the PCB for just about everything. Having an independent body would enable them to have a freehand. They can have their provincial associations too and their own sponsors and funds as well. My own take on the matter is that women’s cricket cannot flourish under the PCB’s thumb.’

But Shireen Javed, when informed of Miandad’s view, said: ‘Yes, he has spoken to me about this as well. But becoming independent will just not be possible for us right now. It is just not feasible.’