LAHORE: Nationwide trials to select the Pakistan women’s emerging and under-19 sides will commence across eight cricket academies from Wednesday, the country’s cricket board announced on Tuesday.

“The trials will help the selectors identify talent and select squads for Pakistan emerging and Pakistan U-19 teams,” said a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a press release.

The Pakistan emerging side will host their West Indies counterparts at home in October this year, while the national women’s U-19 side will feature in a triangular event involving Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Bangladesh in January 2024, added the PCB.

The trials, which end on August 31, will be conducted by the national selection committee, featuring chairperson Saleem Jaffar and ex Pakistan women’s internationals Asmavia Iqbal and Marina Iqbal.

The tryouts will be conducted for three age groups: U-19, in which players who are born on or after 1 September 2004 are eligible; emerging and seniors categories.

“We have recently awarded first-ever domestic contracts to 74 women cricketers, setting the tone for a brighter future in women’s cricket,” the PCB’s head of women’s cricket Tania Mallick said in the statement. “With the nationwide trials, we are eagerly poised to bring in a new wave of talented individuals forward.”

The following is the schedule of trials in eight academies.

Trials schedule:

Aug. 23: Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre, Karachi; Inzamam-ul-Haq High Performance Centre

Aug. 24: Women Sports Stadium, Bahawalpur; Kinnard College for Women, Lahore

Aug. 28: Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi/Islamabad; Qayyum Stadium, Peshawar

Aug. 30: Abbottabad Stadium, Abbottabad; Bugti Stadium, Quetta.”

Published in Dawn, August 23th, 2023