LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has marked two windows in 2023 to hold the inaugural Pakistan Super League (PSL) for Women.

According to the proposed draft, the PCB as its top priority has proposed to hold the PSL for Women alongside the PSL for Men in March next year, and in case it is not possible then the Board will stage it (PSL for Women) when New Zealand tour Pakistan in May 2023 to play five ODIs and as many T20 Inter­nationals.

According to the proposal, only four women teams based on city names will feature in the league and each team will be carrying four foreign players and at least one U-19 player.

The PSL for Women (PSL-W) matches, it is proposed, will be held on league basis, so every team will play minimum three matches and maximum of four.

The ICC Women Senior and Junior T20 World Cup 2023 are also being held in April and January-February in South Africa, respectively. Therefore, the PSL-W will be a good platform for the PCB to test the players in the lead-up to the World Cups for Seniors.

As the T20 World Cup is being held during April in preparation for which many countries will set their series and training camps, there are strong chances they may not release their players for the PSL-W, if it is held alongside PSL-M, whose tentative dates are from Feb 15 to March 30, the proposed draft of the PSL for Women says.

The other proposed window for the PSL-W is May 2023 during which the home series against New Zealand will be held.

If the PSL-W runs with PSL-M, then on the last seven days the matches of both the leagues will be held as a double header.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2022