Women squad announced for West Indies tour

LAHORE: The national women’s selection committee has announced a 26-player squad from which the national and ‘A’ teams will be selected for white-ball matches on the tour of the West Indies.

Javeria Khan, who has an experience of 208 international matches and is the leading run-getter for Pakistan in ODIs, will lead the national side. Rameen Shamim, who has played two ODIs and four T20Is, will captain Pakistan Women’s ‘A’ in the three one-dayers and wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz, with the experience of 98 internationals, will lead the ‘A’ side in the three T20s.

Pakistan squad for the tour: Javeria Khan (captain, national team), Rameen Shamim (One-Day captain, ‘A’ team), Sidra Nawaz (T20 captain, A team), Aliya Riaz, Aiman Anwar, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Jaweria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Kaynat Hafeez, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (wk), Nahida Khan, Najiha Alvi (wk), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, and Syeda Aroob Shah

The Pakistan national women’s team will play West Indies in three T20Is and five ODIs and the ‘A’ side will take on their counterparts in three one-day matches and three T20s. All 26 players will be available for selection for 14 matches.

Urooj Mumtaz, the chairperson of national women’s selection committee, said: “This is an historic occasion in the history of Pakistan women’s cricket as for the first time national side and the ‘A’ team are traveling together.

“The Caribbean tour presents a phenomenal opportunity to our core group of cricketers to showcase their performances. “These 26 players have been involved in all our high performance camps over the past nine months and have put in the hard yards under the national coaching staff led by David Hemp.

The 26 players, the coaching staff and the team officials will depart for Antigua via London in the wee hours of Wednesday. Upon their arrival in Antigua, the players and officials will be tested twice in five days, during which they will be under room isolation.

Team management: Aisha Jalil and Fizza Abid (managers), David Hemp (head coach), Arshad Khan (bowling coach), Kamran Hussain and Waqar Orakzai (assistant coaches), Drikus Saaiman (strength and conditioning coach), Zubair Ahmed (analyst), Rabia Siddiq and Saima Naseem (physiotherapists), and Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi (media manager)