Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday unveiled the squads for the three Women’s T20 League exhibition matches, which will be played ahead of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight matches in Rawalpindi on March 8, 10 and 11. The womens matches will start first and it will be followed by the men’s games.
Left-handed batter Bismah Maroof, who recently stepped down as Pakistan’s skipper, will captain Amazons, which include Ireland’s Laura Delany, England’s trio of Lauren Winfield-Hill, Maia Bouchier and Tammy Beaumont, and Australia’s Tess Flintoff.
“I am delighted to lead Amazons team in the three exhibition matches of the Women’s League. This is a great opportunity for our players to express their talent. The involvement of foreign players in the exhibition matches will provide a perfect opportunity to our players to learn from them,” said Bismah in an official statement by the PCB.
Off-spin all-rounder Nida Dar will lead the Super Women, which will comprise Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, Danni Wyatt of England, Jahanara Alam of Bangladesh, South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Lea Tahuhu of New Zealand.
“I am excited to lead the exciting bunch of players from Super Women. The exhibition matches will provide a perfect platform to the emerging players to exhibit their talent. The foreign players’ participating in these matches and their experience will provide a great learning to the local players,” said Nida.
It means 10 leading foreign players from seven countries will be represented in the three matches, which are billed as soft launch of the Pakistan Women’s League, tentatively planned for September.
Also accompanying them will be Pakistan’s 20 elite players, four U19 players — Areesha Noor, Eyman Fatima, Shawaal Zulfiqar and Syeda Aroob Shah, who featured in the recently held ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup and two emerging cricketers in Fatima Khan and Syeda Masooma Zahra.
The 36 cricketers have been equally divided into two sides with the playing line-ups to include a maximum of four and minimum of three foreign players and a minimum of one emerging or U19 player.
Squads:
Amazons – Bismah Maroof (captain), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Areesha Noor, Eyman Fatima, Fatima Khan, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Gull Feroza, Kainat Imtiaz, Laura Delany (Ireland), Lauren Winfield-Hill (England), Maia Bouchier (England), Nashra Sundhu, Sadaf Shamas, Tammy Beaumont (England), Tess Flintoff (Australia) and Umm-e-Hani
Super Women – Nida Dar (captain) Aimen Anwar, Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Danni Wyatt (England), Iram Javed, Jahanara Alam (Bangladesh), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand), Muneeba Ali, Natalia Parvaiz, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz, Syeda Aroob Shah, Syeda Masooma Zahra and Tuba Hassan
–IANS