ISLAMABAD: Chair­man Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani, while holding a media talk here on Saturday at the 4th AHC-PCB Girls Cricket Cup held at the Marghazar Cricket Ground, said the performance of the national cricket team was quite poor in the recent Test series against South Africa which has disappointed the fans back home and the board will be holding an inquiry into it after the series.

“Yes indeed, everyone is disappointed with the way our team played in the Test series in South Africa,” he said after the event held jointly by Australian High Commission and the PCB with an objective to empower women giving them an opportunity to exhibit their capabilities. “We will do our best to find out the causes of defeat by holding an in-depth inquiry.”

Mani, who was chief guest at the event, appreciated the girls for showing a great game at the AHC-PCB Girls Cricket Cup . He stressed the need for holding such events across the country to bring about new blood in the sports. He said the country lacked a structure that could train the youngsters in sports starting from the school level. He said the international women team was doing good but new players were not being injected into it.

PCB chief lauds performance of girls at AHC-PCB Cup

To a question, he said the sports federations could not merely be run through government funding rather they were sponsored by big companies and advertisements.Girls teams from four schools, including Special Education School for Girls with Hearing Impairment H-9, Mashal Model School Bari Imam, Pakistan Sweet Homes H-9/4 and Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1 Islamabad took part in the event.

The Mashal Model School Bari Imam won the cup by seven wickets in its final competition against Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1. In the allocated 10 overs, Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1 scored 86 runs and that target was successfully chased by the competitor team at three-wicket loss. Sakina was declared as the player of the tournament for scoring 179 runs throughout the event.

The teams were given trophies while Australias Acting High Commissioner to Pakistan, Brek Batley presented an autographed bat of the Australian Cricket Team to the best player of the tournament.The girls attended a five-day coaching clinic in the lead-up to the competition conducted by first class women cricketers and PCB coach Farrukh Hayat.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019