LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a three-month financial support package on Thursday for the unemployed national women cricketers in the backdrop of declining financial position caused by Covid-19, the world over.

The proposal was put forward by the women’s wing, headed by Urooj Mumtaz, which was subsequently approved by PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, a press release issued by the PCB said.

“Under this scheme, 25 women cricketers will benefit and will receive a monthly stipend of PKR25,000 each from August to October.

“The 25 women cricketers were selected following a selection criterion, which included featuring in the 2019-20 national domestic season; are not contracted for the 2020-21 season; and are presently without a job, contract or business,” it further said.

“The decision to offer a three-month financial support package to 25 women cricketers was taken after analysing the present economic challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which have also affected cricket activities.

“In June, the PCB had announced a list of women’s contracted players, which included nine centrally contracted cricketers and as many emerging contracted players. These are 12-month contracts, which commenced on 1 July 2020.

“The latest PCB decision means 43 women cricketers will now be supported by the PCB,” it further said.

“In an identical scheme to help the affected combat the present challenges, the PCB, in May, had offered one-time support to 161 stakeholders, including former men’s first-class cricketers, match officials, scorers and curators,” it concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2020