KARACHI, Aug 24: The tour of West Indies will prove beneficial in the Pakistan Women Cricket team’s preparation for the World Cup qualifiers in November.
This was stated by coach Mansoor Rana on Wednesday a little before the team left for the Caribbean late Wednesday evening.
“We mainly see this tour as a preparatory event for the World Cup qualifiers to be held in Bangladesh in November,” said the coach while speaking to Dawn.
“The girls have been training very hard and are all fit. They are also feeling very confident about beating the West Indies on their own soil. Our last tour of Sri Lanka for the Women’s Quadrangular Series in April saw us taking the title after beating the hosts, the Netherlands and Ireland.
“Earlier, we took gold in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. So they have good reason to feel that way,” he said.
But the coach thought that West Indies was not a side to be taken lightly.
“They beat the England women team during the last World Twenty20 Championship and are currently ranked at number three in the world. They are a good, strong side,” he pointed out.
About his team, the coach said: “We are also happy to welcome back for international duty prolific batswoman Nain Abidi and all-rounder Asmavia Iqbal. Both the seniors were injured during the last tour.”
About the other girls expected to make a mark during the tour he said: “Well, we also have opening batswoman Mariam Hassan, who couldn’t play much international cricket due to being out of form last year. Also there is left-handed batswomanRabiya Shah, who does good wicket keeping as well. She will be our second wicket keeper. Kainat Imtiaz is another good medium fast bowler expected to do well there.”
The girls in green will play four One-Day Internationals and an equal number of Twenty20 matches in the Caribbean.
The squad reached Karachi from Lahore at 2.00pm on Wednesday afternoon but were prevented to leave the airport to relax at the Cricket Academy by the Pakistan Cricket Board due to security reasons. Therefore they had to stay at the airport untiltheir next flight to Dubai at 10.30pm following which they were to head to the West Indies via London. They return on Sept 13.
Squad: Sana Mir (captain), Javeria Wadood (vice captain), Nain Abidi, Bisma Maroof, Nida Dar, Marina Iqbal, Batool Fatima (wicketkeeper), Qanita Jalil, Asmavia Iqbal, Masooma Junaid, Sadia Yousuf, Mariam Hassan, Kainat Imtiaz and Rabiya Shah.
Officials: Ayesha Ashhar (manager), Mansoor Rana (coach), Mauhtashim Rasheed (bowling and fielding coach), Sunaina Munir (physio) and Farrukh Zaman Khan (selector).
Tour schedule: Aug 28 — 1st ODI at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St VincentAug 30 — 2nd ODI at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St VincentSep 1 — 3rd ODI at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St VincentSep 3 — 4th ODI at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St VincentT20 Internationals — Pakistan Women v West Indies Women·Sep 6 — 1st T20I at Progress Park, St Andrew’sSep 7 — 2nd T20I at Progress Park, St Andrew’sSep 10 — 3rd T20I D/N at Providence Stadium, GuyanaSep 11 — 4th T20I D/N at Providence Stadium, Guyana