LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Monday appointed former first-class cricketer Iqbal Imam as the national women’s team batting coach for the ICC Women’s Championship fixture against South Africa in May.

Iqbal, as a left-handed top-order batsman, played first-class cricket for 15 years in which he scored 6,249 runs in 147 matches. He hit nine centuries and 32 half-centuries, and ended his career in 2005.

Iqbal has been part of the PCB coaching staff since 2007 and presently is regional head coach of Karachi. He has previously worked as Pakistan ‘A’, Pakistan Under-19 and Women’s Under-17 assistant coach.

Iqbal — who also heads the Pakistan physical disability cricket team’s selection committee — will join the female team’s training camp in Karachi, which commences under the guidance of head coach Mark Coles from Tuesday.

The squad departs for South Africa on April 29 for three ICC Women’s Championship ODIs scheduled for May 6, 9 and 12, followed by five T20Is on May 15, 18, 19, 22 and 23.

Published in Dawn, April 09th, 2019