LAHORE: The Ireland women’s cricket team’s tour to Pakistan will start with the first of the six One-day International series against the hosts here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.

The team’s are scheduled to play as many T20Is after the conclusion of the ODI series, which is a part of the ICC Women’s Championship and points off the matches will mean valuable to both sides.

Pakistan will look to ride on the momentum from their recent campaign at the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, of which the Bismah Maroof-led side reached the semi-finals, losing it just by a run to Sri Lanka.

Bismah said Pakistan will aim at improving themselves in terms of performance under pressure, a problem that occurred several times during the Asia Cup.

“We made a few mistakes in the Asia Cup,” the veteran batter said in a press conference on Thursday. “In this series, we will try to do better in pressure situations.”

The 31-year-old believed her team needed finishing efforts from batters other than the experienced duo of Nida Dar and Aliya Riaz — both were crucial for Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

It will be Ireland’s first visit to the Pakistan but they would not be going into the matches without an idea of what the conditions offer in the country, captain Laura Delany said

“We were in the UAE for T20 World Cup qualifiers and we had a successful campaign at a place where temperatures were high and so was the humidity,” said the 29-year-old, adding that her team was “happy with the weather” in Lahore.

TOUR REMAINS ON

Following what was believed to be an assassination attempt of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, there were doubts if the tour would go on.

A joint statement by the Pakistan Cricket Board and its Irish counterpart, however, shrugged off such a possibility.

“The tour of Ireland women cricket team will remain on after the sad incident of attack on former Pri­me Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan occurred in Wazir­abad,” read the statement.

“Cricket Ireland is currently liaising with the Pakistan Cricket Board, in-country security advisors and diplomatic services.

“Current advice provided to Cricket Ireland is that there will be no change in the threat level as a result of this incident.

“The Ireland Women’s squad has been briefed, while Cricket Ireland’s security advisors will continue to review procedures and monitor the situation.”

Pakistan squad: Bismah Maroof (captain), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali (wicket-keeper), Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wicket-keeper), Umm-e-Hani

Ireland squad: Laura Delany (captain), Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Cara Murray, Celeste Raack, Eimear Richardson, Gaby Lewis, Jane Maguire, Leah Paul, Louise Little, Mary Waldron, Orla Prendergast, Rachel Delaney, Rebecca Stokell, Shauna Kavanagh.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022