‘Women’s exhibition matches a great step forward’

RAWALPINDI: Two leading cricketers, Bismah Maroof and Nida Dar, were unanimous in calling the forthcoming women's teams exhibition matches, a trendsetter for women's cricket’s popularity in the country.

Responding to ‘The News’ question during a media talk at the Pindi Stadium, Nida said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) initiative to invite ten women from different countries to play March 8, 10 and 11 exhibition matches at the Pindi Stadium will go a long way in popularising women’s cricket in the country.

“We are delighted to know that the PCB has decided to organise women's cricket matches that would play the role of a curtain-raiser for the forthcoming league. It is really a welcoming initiative and will help flourish women's cricket in the country. Pakistan women required such exposure more to improve their confidence to perform in competitive cricket in the company of the best international players.”

Bismah called the initiative a major move to increase women's folk interest in cricket. “These matches will improve the interest of women folk in the game. Even those cricketers who are new to the international or domestic scene would gain the required experience by playing in the company of international megastars. So the matches will help the country’s women's cricket in many ways,” she said.

On Pakistan women cricketers' lacklustre performance and their failure to make an impression in international cricket, Bismah said there was no denying the fact that the PCB has been providing the best of facilities to the women cricketers. “We still lack the confidence required to perform at international cricket.

In other countries, players regularly play international cricket and throughout the year keep on playing league cricket. So these players are beaming with confidence and whenever a crunch time comes, such women cricketers make the difference.

That is not the case with the Pakistan women who lack proper exposure and an opportunity to play regular cricket in the company of international players,” she said.

Bismah called for better organisation of women's cricket at the grassroots level to help improve the base and give the basic know-how to the starters at a very early age. “We need to work on that for better results at national and international levels. By doing so we could also improve the interest of young women cricketers. We need to improve the overall competitive element among the youth.

I think such matches would help even improve the interest among youth and broaden the pool from where the ultimate selection for national and international cricket will come.”

PCB plans to hold the women's league in the month of September with four teams selected to play for the title in the inaugural edition. The single-round event is likely to attract leading international cricketers from all leading cricket-playing nations.