South, Central Blue win in National Women T20

South zone and Central zone Blue have succeeded in the National Women Twenty20 Cricket Championship, being played here at the Quaid-e-Azam Park Steel Town Saturday.

South zone defeated North zone by three wickets.

Batting first, North zone made 97 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs with Sana Javed being the top-scorer (44).

In reply, South zone also made the same score for the loss of the same number of wickets but the South zone was declared winner by 12 runs under the law of slow over-rate.

Second match was played between Central Zone Blue and Central Zone Green.

Central Zone Green scored 101 runs for five wickets. Nazia Nazir made 34 while Saadia claimed three wickets for Central Zone Blue.

In reply, Central Zone Blue achieved the target in the 19th over. Nida Dar scored 25 while Almas Akram took three wickets for 13 runs.

PCB launches women's Twenty20 tournament

The Pakistan board has launched the National Twenty20 Quadrangular Championship as part of its plans to prepare the national women's team for the inaugural World Twenty20 in England in 2009. The domestic tournament will be held in Karachi between July 18 and 27.

The 64 cricketers will be divided among four zonal teams: North Zone [Peshawar, Abbottabad, Islamabad], Central Zone Blues [Lahore, Sialkot], Central Zone Greens [Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi], and South Zone [Karachi, Hyderadad, Quetta]. Urooj Mumtaz, the national captain, will lead the South Zone squad.

The WorldTwenty20 is set to increase the profile of the women's game since their matches will be staged alongside the men's event, the first time that it's happening. Mumtaz, in her blog entry on Cricinfo in May, wrote about what the tournament could mean for women's cricket despite the fact that Pakistan have not yet played international Twenty20s.

"Knowing that we are going to have the opportunity to play at the same grounds as some of these players, on the same day, at the World Twenty20 is really exciting,"

she said.

"It's a great opportunity to promote the women's game."

The opening day of the competition sees South Zone face Central Zone Blues and Central Zone Greens take on North Zone.

Squads:

North Zone: Qanita Jalil, 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, Kiran Mukhtar
Coach: Nadeem Abbasi
Manager: Hajra Sarwar

Central Zone Blues : Sabeen Abdul Samad, Zeba Manzoor, Nida Dar, Almas Akram, Bismah Maroof, Taskeen Qadeer, Marina Iqbal, Sabahat Rashid, Mehwish Tariq, Faryal Awan, Saima Jamil, Sidra Amin, Nimra Imran, Marriam Butt, Tehreen Iqbal
Coach: Mohammad Riaz
Manager:Zeb-Un-Nisa

Central Zone Greens: Asmavia Iqbal, 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, Maria Javed
Coach: Aftab Warraich
Manager: Riffat Manzoor

South Zone: Batool Fatima, Nain Abidi, Sana Mir, Urooj Mumtaz, Javeria Khan, Sajida Shah, Sumaiya Siddiqui, Kanwal Naz, Rabia Shah, Kainat Imtiaz, Nahida Khan, Shazia Anjum, Masooma Junaid, Humaira Masroor, Sana Taj
Coach: Farrukh Bari
Manager: Ayesha Qureshi

Source: Cricinfo

Pakistan team announced for Women’s Asia Cup

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced the 14-member Pakistan squad for the Women’s Asia Cup.

The fourth Women’s Asia Cup Cricket Tournament will be held in Sri Lanka from May 2 to 11.

Besides Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India will participate in the tournament.

Urooj Mumtaz will lead the national women’s team. Other players of the team will be: Taskeen Qadir, Sajida Shah, Mismah Muarif, Nain Abedi, Sana Javed, Sana Mir, Qanita Jaleel, Asmavia Iqbal, Batool Fatima, Shumaila Mushtaq, Almas Akram, Javeria Khan and Sadia Yousuf.

Karachi women claim National Women C’ship title

The Karachi women clinched the title of 4th National Women Cricket Championship 2008 defeating Lahore with massive 85 runs in the final here at Niaz Stadium on Monday.

Batting first, Karachi managed 199 in 49.4 overs as a result of superb 60 runs of opener Nain Abidi, which she made with the help of five boundaries. Humera Mansoor 37, Javeria Khan 26 and Arman Khan 25 were other leading scorers of Karachi while 42 extra runs were the second highest total of the innings.

Off break bowler Sabahat Rasheed clinched four for 37 while Marina Iqbal bagged three for 36.

In reply Lahore bundled out at 114 in 36.4 overs. 44 runs were the highest total of Lahore women while Marina Iqbal 19, Sabahat Rasheed 19 and Mariam Butt 14 were the scorers who reached double figures.

Pacer Masooma Junaid two for 19, Shumail Qureshi two for 18 and Sana Mir two for 16 were the wicket takers from Karachi. Nain Abidi was declared woman of the match.

Umpires Kausar Shah and Akram Raza supervised the match while Masood Anwar was the Match Referee.

National Women’s Cricket Championship starts today

The 2007-08 National Women’s Cricket Championship, the fourth edition of the competition, starts with six matches in three different groups at various centres around the country from today (Thursday).

Twelve teams in all are taking part in the limited overs tournament, representing all the 11 cricketing regions of Pakistan, plus a team from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) which is also alternatively known as the Pakistan Universities Women.

In Zone A, based in Faisalabad, the two opening round matches are being played between Abbottabad Women and Rawalpindi Women at the Jawad Sports Complex Ground in the city and between Faisalabad Women and Lahore Women at the Bagh-e-Jinnah (or Bohranwali) Ground.

The Zone B matches will be played in the twin cities of Islamabad and Lahore. The first two matches being played today are between Islamabad Women and Peshawar Women at Islamabad’s Shalimar Ground and between Pakistan Universities Women and Sialkot Women at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

All matches in Zone C are being staged in cities located in the Sindh province. The first round match today between Hyderabad Women and Quetta Women is being played at Sindh University Ground Jamshoro. The other match today is between Karachi Women and Multan Women at the Nawabshah Cricket Stadium.

After the completion of the group-league round, the top team from each group will qualify for the Final Round to be staged at Sindh University Jamshoro and Niaz Stadium Hyderabad from March 27 to 29. The top two sides will then play the final in Hyderabad on March 31.

The tournament has gained increased importance with the Women’s Asia Cup competition coming up in Sri Lanka in May this year. Moreover, the Pakistan Women’s team is flying high after having qualified for next year’s World Cup in Australia as it made the final of the recent ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa. Karachi Women are the holders of Pakistan’s national title, having beaten Lahore Women in the final played at Rawalpindi in the 2006-07 season, by the narrow margin of five runs.

Schedule of 4th National Women Championship 2008

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the schedule for 4th National Women Cricket Championship 2008.

Zone A in Faisalabad

Date	Matches	Venue
20-Mar	Faisalabad v Lahore	Bohranwali Ground Faisalabad
	Abbottabad v Rawalpindi	Jawad Club Faisalabad
21-Mar	Faisalabad v Abbottabad	Bohranwali Ground Faisalabad
	Lahore v Rawalpindi	Jawad Club Faisalabad
23-Mar	Faisalabad v Rawalpindi	Bohranwali Ground Faisalabad
	Lahore v Abbottabad	Jawad Club Faisalabad

Zone B in Islamabad

Date	Matches	Venue
20-Mar	Islamabad v Peshawar	Shalimar Ground Islamabad
	Sialkot v HEC	Rawalpindi Stadium
21-Mar	Islamabad v Sialkot	Shalimar Ground Islamabad
	HEC v Peshawar	Rawalpindi Stadium
23-Mar	Peshawar v Sialkot	Shalimar Ground Islamabad
	Islamabad v HEC	Rawalpindi Stadium

Zone C in Hyderabad

Date	Matches	Venue
20-Mar	Multan v Karachi	Sports Stadium Nawabshah
	Hyderabad v Quetta	Sind University Jamshoro
21-Mar	Karachi v Quetta	Sind Univesity Jamshoro
	Hyderabad v Multan	Sports Stadium Nawabshah
23-Mar	Multan v Quetta	Sports Stadium Nawabshah
	Hyderabad v Karachi	Sind University Jamshoro

Final Round in Hyderabad

Date	Matches	Venue
27-Mar	Winner A v Winner B	Sind Univertsity Jamshoro
28-Mar	Winner A v Winner C	Sind University Jamshoro
29-Mar	Winner B v Winner C	Niaz Stadium Hyderabad
31-Mar	Final	Niaz Stadium Hyderabad

ICC Women's World Cup Qualifiers, 2007-08

The ICC women's World Cup qualifiers gets underway in South Africa on Monday and by the end of the week two teams will have secured themselves spots in the World Cup in Australia next year. But what about the other six? What will they take back from a tournament where they get to play a maximum of four games, apart from the warm-ups scheduled prior to the qualifiers?

The teams placed third and fourth will get ranked among the top ten countries for the next four years which means their matches are then deemed as official Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. But that doesn't mean they will automatically play more games every year. What plagues women's cricket the most is how little each team plays, apart from England, Australia and New Zealand. While the World Cup qualifiers cannot ensure more matches per team over the next four years, it can throw up at least two or three quality sides who can then take their game forward by competing more regularly with the top four - Australia, India, New Zealand and England.

So for South Africa, Ireland, Netherlands and Pakistan this is an opportunity to move to the bigger leagues, while for Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe and Scotland the qualifiers is a tournament to gain experience, play in different conditions and meet new opposition. How different the conditions will be for them is revealed by what Papua New Guinea's captain, Kune Amini, said regarding the pitches they will be playing on.

"We've never played on turf so that will be different for our girls,"

she told the ICC website.

"I think it's too soon to qualify for the World Cup as our standard of play is not similar to other countries as we play on concrete."

As hosts, South Africa may have the best chance of winning the tournament and getting a higher seed at the World Cup. But they will badly miss Johmari Logtenberg and Mignon du Preez. Logtenberg, their star batsman, quit the game last month, while du Preez withdrew from the tournament for personal reasons. There isn't a more emphatic reason to play more often than the danger of losing players. In the last 12 months South Africa played eight ODIs, one Test and two Twenty20 internationals. In the same period Australia have played 16 ODIs, one Twenty20 and a Test. Unless given more opportunities, other players will follow Logtenberg out of cricket to more lucrative sports like golf.

The postponement of the tournament, scheduled for last November in Pakistan, following political unrest in the country gave all the sides a chance to get in some more practice, but injuries and for some, no leave from work, have depleted the squads of their first-choice players. Scotland's Vari Maxwell, part of the original squad, was unable to make it to South Africa because she is a Royal Navy employee and her ship is still at sea. The amateur nature of their game may allow players to pursue interests outside cricket and of course the costs of touring, taking leave from schools, universities, and regular jobs come in the way of most women players turning in to full-time professionals, but their teams won't be taken seriously unless they turn out for matches with competitive squads.

In the end it is the bilateral series - or at the very least quadrangulars - that will allow teams to improve their game. But it is tournaments like the qualifiers that will identify the competition and get talented players noticed. In last year's Asian Cricket Council tournament, Bangladesh's victory, without dropping a game, which included ten-wicket wins against Singapore and UAE, prompted the board to organise a women's cricket league in the country. The national players were given cash awards, a full-time coach and trainer were appointed, and regular training camps were started. The board also promised to provide cricket gear for the women's league as well as for the school girls' division. Runners-up Nepal were also given cash prizes by their association.

That should be enough incentive for the players in South Africa to make a mark at the qualifiers this week. Of course there is the World Cup as well.