KARACHI: West Indies fast bowler Shamilia Shontell Connell is delighted to return to Pakistan, saying her team is looking to play its part in further reviving international women’s cricket in the country.

West Indies women arrived in Karachi on Monday for a three-match ODI series against the hosts with their tour coming a month after England cancelled their series.

“My first visit was a great one also because we were able to bring back international women’s cricket to the fans and people of Pakistan,” Connell, who first toured Pakistan in 2019, told Dawn.

The forthcoming series is aimed at helping both sides prepare for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

“This series will play a crucial part in the preparing for the world cup qualifiers as we need to secure a spot for the 2022 women’s 50 over world cup in New Zealand,” Connell said.

Speaking about one Pakistan player who has impressed her the most, she said: “I think Fatima Sana has been the one to impress me the most after being here in 2019 where she was a net bowler I saw that she had great potential and would eventually break into the national team watching her progress over the past year have been very impressive and also her career-best of 5/39 against us in a recent series.”

Many followers of the game draw parallel between the styles of the two teams, but Connell partially agrees with this notion. “I think both teams share similarities in certain aspects of the game but have their unique style,” she said.

In the post-pandemic cricketing world, the ‘bio-bubble’ and the ‘quarantine’ have greatly affected the lives of cricketers but Connell said she and her team-mates know how to cope with them.

“I occupy my time with playing games keeping in touch with friends and family. As a team we try to do a lot of team activities so it doesn’t get mentally draining,” she said.

After the three-match series, both teams will be flying to Zimbabwe for the ICC World Cup Qualifier and Connell is upbeat about it.

“I am very confident. We’ve been working very hard over the past few months in all areas of our game both physically and mentally. We’re in a good space coming off of the just concluded camp.”

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2021