KARACHI: The inaugural edition of the U-19 T20 Women Cricket Tournament will kick off in Lahore on Saturday, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced.

The tournament will feature 84 players from the six regional cricket associations before it ends on August 22. The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals after a single league round.

The event will help the PCB identify Pakistan’s potential side for the maiden ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be staged in South Africa next year.

“…and the top performers are also guaranteed places in the senior sides, which will come into action when the senior women domestic season commences from November,” the PCB said in a statement on Friday.

The six squads for the tournament has also been finalised after “country-wide open trials and subsequent practice games amongst the selected players across the PCB-run women regional academies,” said the statement.

“Fifteen players have been placed in reserve pool and they can be called up based on a team’s requirement.”

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2022