KARACHI: Pakistan women’s team’s tour to Ireland for a Twenty20 tri-series and the Common­wealth Games after that will be an opportunity for its emerging players, captain Bismah Maroof has said.

The Ireland tri-series, set to start in the Belfast on July 16, will involve the hosts and world champions Australia.

Following the tournament, Pakistan will fly to Birmin­gham for participate in the Commonwealth Games, which commence on July 28.

Bismah believed the eve­nts will provide the likes of youngsters Tuba Hasan, Aye­sha Naseem and Fatima Sana the stage to make a mark.

“We have a good team combination with youngsters like Tuba Hassan, Ayesha Naseem and Fatima Sana providing real energy, skill and talent, they are the ones for the future and this tour is a real opportunity for them to make a big impression,” the experienced batter said on Saturday.

Tuba impressed on her debut in Pakistan’s recent T20 series at home against Sri Lanka, bagging five wickets in three matches. Ayesha and Fatima, on the other hand, are slightly more experienced than Tuba.

While Ayesha too was instrumental for in the Sri Lanka T20s, Fatima was named the ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year for the year 2021.

“The tri-series in Ireland provides us a good opportunity of acclimatising to the conditions ahead of the Commonwealth Games,” Bismah said.

“At the Commonwealth Games, we would take on the challenge of playing formidable opponents as to succeed there we need to beat the big teams, our aim would be to target a victory.”

Pakistan’s preparations for the events, however, were marred by the weather and the scheduled intra-squad practice matches were compromised. Bismah said the nine-day camp, held at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and the House of Northern here, was helpful despite the rains.

“Our preparations have suffered a bit due to the persistent rains as we could not play practice matches, we had to hence shift our focus to fitness more,” said the 30-year-old.

“We tried to make most of the indoor facility we were provided and that did come as a good help to the side amid the weather challenges.”

The Pakistan squad is scheduled to fly to Belfast on Tuesday. The side will play their opening match of the tri-series against Australia at the Bready Cricket Club ground on

July 16.

Pakistan will play both Australia and Ireland twice, the top two sides will progress to compete in the final. All seven tournament matches will be staged at the same venue.

In the Commonwealth Games, Pakistan are placed in Pool ‘A’ alongside Australia, India and Barbados.

Squad:

Bismah Maroof (captain), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gul Feroza (wicket-keeper), Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (wicketkeeper), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Tuba Hassan.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022