KARACHI, July 17: Quaid Park, the lush cricket ground of Karachi’s Steel Township, is set to become a field of dreams for the sixty or so girls competing in the inaugural Women’s Twenty20 Quadrangular cricket championship that commences with the match between South Zone and Central Zone Blues at 9.30am on Friday.

The championship features girl players from all over Pakistan forming four competitive outfits, namely, the South Zone (representing Karachi, Hyderabad and Quetta), the Central Zone Blues (representing Lahore and Sialkot), the Central Zone Greens (representing Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi) and the North Zone (representing Peshawar, Abbottabad and Islamabad). Although many cricketers in the four sides are familiar names from the women’s national team which shot to fame after beating Ireland, Zimbabwe, Scotland and Netherlands in last year’s ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa, there are also many new recruits such as the 12 to 13 discoveries made by the national team coach Umar Rashid in the recently concluded three-week long camp at Muridke.

Speaking to Dawn on Thursday evening, the recently turned dental surgeon Urooj Mumtaz Khan, who heads the national team besides captaining the South Zone side in this tournament, said that she was familiar with the style of most of players in her opposing team, the Central Zone Blues.

“We have played as one team for Pakistan and the matches will be lots of fun besides being good practice for us all in learning to increase our run-rate while playing sensibly,” she said.

About her squad, she said: “It comprises a good combination of batswomen and bowlers and even a steady run-rate of four to six runs in an over would help us reach a good 120 runs, which can be a winning score.”

About her playing strategy, Urooj said: “Twenty20 can be such a funny game at times. Things can go absolutely crazy within a few minutes so we will try to remember our basics and play proper cricket, taking singles or doubles instead of going for fours or sixes.”

The experienced player said that she was really looking forward to playing at Quaid Park. “It’s a nice facility and just a one hour’s drive from the main city.”

Sabahat Rashid, skipper of the Central Zone Blues, South’s opposing side in the first encounter, meanwhile, is looking to get more runs than South Zone. “I’ll first be examining the pitch tomorrow before coming up with my match winning strategy. If it is a good batting wicket, I think 150 runs should be a good target,” she said.

Sabahat is a spinner who, besides being a national team member, has also headed her regional team on several occasions. “I’ve played for four years now and am happy to welcome the new girls in the squad,” she said while looking forward to playing at the Steel Town ground.

The championship will provide good practice to the girls for the ICC Women’s World Cup to be staged in Australia next year as well as the first ever Women’s ICC World Twenty20 to be staged in England in June next year.

The second match of the day, to be played at 3.30pm at the same venue, will see Central Zone Greens taking on North Zone.

The final will be played at the National Stadium Karachi (NSK) on July 27.

Teams:

South Zone: Batool Fatima, Nain Abidi, Sana Mir, Urooj Mumtaz Khan (captain), Javeria Khan, Sajida Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Kanwal Naz, Rabia Shah, Kainat Imtiaz, Nahida Khan, Shazia Anjum, Masooma Junaid, Humaira Masroor and Sana Taj.

Officials: Farrukh Bari (coach) and Ayesha Qureshi (manager).

Central Zone Blues: Sabeen Abdul Samad, Zeba Manzoor, Nida Dar, Almas Akram, Bismah Maroof, Taskeen Qadeer, Marina Iqbal, Sabahat Rashid (captain), Mehwish Tariq, Faryal Awan, Saima Jamil, Sidra Amin, Nimra Imran, Marriam Butt and Tehreen Iqbal.

Officials: Mohammad Riaz (coach) and Zeb-un-Nisa (manager).

Central Zone Greens: Asmavia Iqbal (captain), Sania Khan, Sukhan Faiz, Atiya Shakira, Asfa Batool, Sana Gulzar, Nazia Nazir, Rabiya Batool, Sadia Yousuf, Anum Zahra, Shaumaila Mushtaq, Armaan Khan, Nazia Sadiq, Sadia Iqbal and Maria Javed.

Officials: Aftab Warraich (coach) and Riffat Manzoor (manager).

North Zone: Qanita Jalil (captain), Asma Tehseen, Wajiha Sundas, Naila Qureshi, Tayyaba Khan, Shakila Naz, Sana Javed, Badar-un-Nisa, Marriam Hasan Shah, Naila Nazir, Hina Shafique, Salma Faiz, Faiza Waheed, Sumaiya Akbar and Kiran Mukhtar.

Ofiicials: Nadeem Abbasi (coach) and Hajra Sarwar (manager).

Fixtures:

July 18:

South Zone v Central Zone Blues at 9.30am.

Central Zone Greens v North Zone at 3.30pm.

July 19:

South Zone v North Zone at 9.30am.

Central Zone Blues v Central Zone Greens at 3.30pm.

July 20: REST DAY.

July 21:

South Zone v Central Zone Greens at 9.30am.

North Zone v Central Zone Blues at 3.30pm.

July 22:

South Zone v Central Zone Blues at 9.30am.

Central Zone Greens v North Zone at 3.30pm.

July 23: REST DAY.

July 24:

South Zone v North Zone at 9.30am.

Central Zone Blues v Central Zone Greens at 3.30pm.

July 25:

South Zone v Central Zone Greens at 9.30am.

North Zone v Central Zone Blues at 3.30pm.

July 26: REST DAY.

July 27: Final at 3.30pm at the NSK.