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Girls in green

By Gul Nasreen
Tue, 04, 16

Pakistan women cricket team, which won its group match against India in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup, has grabbed attention at home. You! deems this occasion fit to take a look at the women cricket in the country since its beginning in 1996...

 Pakistan women cricket team, which won its group match against India in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup, has grabbed attention at home. You! deems this occasion fit to take a look at the women cricket in the country since its beginning in 1996...

Girls in green

It was a moment of great pride for the entire nation when the ‘girls in green’ recently defeated arch-rivals India in the group match by two wickets in ICC T20 World Cup in India. It was the very same day when our male-team failed to counter their Indian counterparts in Men’s World Cup event.

By beating India in the crucial WorldT20 clash at New Delhi, the national women’s cricket team has achieved new heights. It was due to Pakistan women cricket team’s disciplined bowling effort that it took India 7.4 overs to find their first boundary, which came off Mithali’s bat. They also beat Bangladesh in the group stage of the tournament but failed to qualify for the semifinals after they lost to an experienced English side.

The women’s team produced impressive performance throughout the tournament. Their failure to qualify for the knockout stage did not bring the women’s side under-fire as they impressed everyone with their energetic show in the field and displayed clear signs of improvement.

Our girls in green have surely set an example for the men’s team at the World Twenty20 as they played with diligence and passion. “This is an important victory, as it will provide great encouragement and boost to women’s cricket in this country. The fact that the national women’s team today is ranked sixth in the ICC rankings, with four of its players featuring among the top 20, amply reflects the great strides they have made,” says captain Sana Mir.

While their male counterparts have continued to struggle, inexplicably falling short of taming the Indian cricket teams in all ICC events since 1992, Sana Mir’s charges quite commendably held their nerve to pull off a sensational victory over their rivals. Their victory is made special when one takes into account the many odds stacked against them in the run-up to the high-voltage clash.

 The journeyGirls in green

Pakistan’s women cricketers’ journey has not been an easy one. Yes, like other fields, Pakistani women have also braved great difficulties on the cricket front as well. How this genre of cricket began in the country, the various phases it went thought before it got the current status at international level is an interesting saga indeed.

The Pakistani Women’s Cricket Team was established in the year 1996 by two cricket enthusiasts and sisters, Shaiza Khan and Sharmeen Khan. It was not a smooth journey for them. They faced a lot of hurdles including court cases and even death threats from the extremists. The government also did not help them in any way and they were not given permission to visit India for a series in 1997. And the worst came when they were stopped from playing cricket in front of public for religious reasons.

However, the women cricketers were not deterred by these hurdles and despite all odds they somehow managed to play against New Zealand and Australia the same year. Even though they were comprehensively beaten by their opponent in all the One Day International matches, the women cricket team was allowed to play in the Women World Cup the same year in India. They again failed to impress and finished last in the tournament in which eleven cricket playing nations had participated.

The next year, they got a chance to tour Sri Lanka where they played three One Day International matches, losing all of their matches. Also, they were unable to win their first Test match. Till 2000, participation was the name of the game for Pakistan women cricketers. However, in 2001, things started turning in favour of Pakistan women cricket team when they managed their first international win, in their 19th match, against Netherlands in a seven match One Day International series abroad.

The year 2004 saw the West Indies tour Pakistan, playing seven One Day International matches and a Test match. The Test match was a draw and West Indies won the One Day International series 5-2, but those two victories for Pakistan were their first against a Test playing nation.

Later, in 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board established a Women’s Wing to control all affairs pertaining to cricket in the country. A year later, in 2006, Pakistan hosted the second Women’s Asia Cup in December 2005/January 2006. It was in 2007 that the Pakistani squad toured South Africa and played in a five-match, One Day International series. The same year they qualified for the ICC Women World Cup and Pakistan was awarded to Host the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers but it was postponed due to security reasons and the situation of the country.

Bagging gold medals in Asian Games

It was in 2010, that our girls made us proud when they won their first cricket gold at Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China. They created history by beating Bangladesh by 10 wickets to win the first-ever Asian Games women’s cricket tournament.

Again in 2014, Pakistan retained the women’s Twenty20 cricket gold medal at the Asian Games by defeating spirited Bangladesh in a rain-affected final.

PCB’s first selection committee for womenGirls in green

Last year, in December, the Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan established a selection committee for women cricket team for the first time in the history of Pakistan cricket. Former captain of women cricket team and member of this committee Urooj Mumtaz Khan says, “Women’s teams from all the four provinces should be raised on merit and groomed for better representation in international cricket. We have talented girls who have the potential to play the game so the committee will go by the policy which is to select the best women players.”

According to Urooj, what our girls need to do is take up administrative roles in order to strengthen the team. “Cricket remains cricket regardless of which gender plays this sport. Men, especially sportsmen, should be supportive and also encourage the women team instead of discouraging them,” she stresses.

Regarding the problems and travails of Pakistani women’s team captain Sana Mir, shares, “I had a smooth sailing in the game with respect to family support, but it was not the case for many of my teammates who had to brave many odds to take to the field. We are not given as many opportunities as our male colleagues. As far as salaries are concerned, it is a pity that we are only paid 1/9th amount of what they get. I believe that we should be provided with better facilities and given international exposure so that we could win more tournaments.” Bushra Aitzaz, who headed the women’s wing in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) till 2014 proudly states, “In a country where cricket is a passion, the Pakistan Cricket Board is giving steady exposure to the women’s team. The fact that we have played regularly in the recent years in the International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments and against better opposition has helped these girls gain confidence. Two back-to-back Asian Games gold medals in 2010 and 2014 are a testimony that women’s cricket team has made tangible progress under her watch.”

“Pakistani women have never failed to make us proud, that too in a field like sports. And with the numerous achievements Pakistani sports women have bagged, it is about time we started acknowledging them too,” enunciates former national cricket selector Salahuddin Sallu.

“When it comes to sports, we should support women whether it is boxing, hockey, or cricket. They need to be lauded and given due commendation. Not only because they are girls and have to face way more obstacles than men but because they are Pakistanis and every compatriot should support them regardless of their gender,” he adds.

Salahuddin Sallu also emphasizes, “Women players do not have cricket grounds or cricket clubs where their talents can be nurtured at grass root level.”

Cricket at grass root level

With more and more women coming to the forefront in the field of sports, it is quite encouraging to see that cricket is also being promoted at grass root level. Recently, in a first, KU cricket tournament was open for female students as well. Female students participated for the first time in University of Karachi’s annual event ‘Paigham-e-Aman Cricket Tournament’. To motivate the players, Nain Fatima Abidi, Ayesha Zafar and Muneeba Siddiqui from the Pakistan women cricket team attended the first day of girl’s cricket tournament.

This is not all. The good news is that now financial institutions have also started working on the idea of forming women cricket team. For instance, the NBP is floating the idea of forming women cricket team. Similarly, local sports associations are also taking a lead in organizing events for women at city level. 

Asma Muhammad Ali Shah, Chairperson of Asghar Ali Shah Sports Foundation and wife of former Sindh Sports Minister Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, says, “To promote the game at grass root level, we organized the first Dr MA Shah women cricket tournament last year with the permission of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Six teams took part in the tournament: AO Clinic, Omar Associates, AO Pioneer, Ambreen Academy, Junoon Academy and Rest of Sindh XI.” Likewise, Iqbal Ashraf, President of National Bank of Pakistan has recently disclosed that plans are afoot to form the bank’s women cricket team in an initiative that will promote the sport. “Necessary directives have been issued to the NBP Sports Department to form its women team for national events. In this way, not only women cricket will develop but the sportsmen will get job by joining the departmental teams,” he concludes.

 

Sana Mir

Pakistan women’s team captain Sana Mir has been the most mentioned female player on Facebook during the recently concluded World T20 tournament held in India. The 30-year-old was followed by Bangladeshi right-arm medium pacer Jahanara Alam. West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor secured the third place while Indian captain Mithali Raj came on fourth and Australian captain

Meg Lanning on fifth position.

 

Trivia

  • Did you know that the first recorded cricket game by women was in 1745. The Reading Mercury reported: “Eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambleton, dressed all in white, the girls bowled, batted, ran and catched as well as most men could do.”
  • In the year 1768, a game in Sussex attracted a crowd of 3,000.
  • One of the better known facts about women and cricket is that legendary cricketer W.G. Grace was taught how to play by his mother.
  • Less well known fact is that women may have invented overarm bowling. It is claimed that Christina Willes used to bowl overarm to her brother John, who played cricket for Kent and England in the early nineteenth century, to avoid getting her arm tangled up in her skirts. John then tried out the method at Lord’s, and the rest, as they say, is history. 
  • The first women’s cricket club was formed in 1887 at Nun Appleton in Yorkshire and named the White Heather Club.
  • In 1890, a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers, toured England, playing in exhibition matches to large crowds. The team was highly successful until its manager absconded with the profits, forcing the ladies to disband.