LAHORE: The five-team Under-19 T20 Women Cricket Tournament 2023 is all set to commence at the Lahore Country Club in Muridke from Wednesday (today).

The tournament promises to showcase the incredible talent and passion of young female cricketers from across the nation. The tournament will feature five teams namely Challengers, Conquerors, Invincibles, Stars and Strikers.

The nine-day tournament will be conducted on round-robin basis, meaning each team will play at least four matches. The final will be played on September 21, after the league stage is done.

The Under-19 T20 Women Cricket Tournament 2023 serves a perfect opportunity for the players to stake a claim in the national U-19 side ahead of Pakistan U-19 women’s team maiden tour to Bangladesh in January 2024.

To further incentivize the players to bring out their best performances, the PCB has also introduced financial awards to encourage the players to bring out their best. The winning team will receive Rs0.5 million, while the runner-up will get Rs0.3 million.

The player of the tournament will be awarded Rs25,000 and each player of the match will receive Rs10,000. The tournament’s top performers, best player, best batter, best bowler and best wicket-keeper will be gifted kit bags to encourage them to enhance their skills and pursue their cricketing ambitions.

The PCB has also finalised the five squads, which consist of 14 players each. These squads have been selected by the national women’s selection committee headed by former Test cricketer Saleem Jaffar after country-wide open trials in eight academies last month.

As many as 11 players have been placed in reserve pool and they can be called up based on a team’s requirement. Only players born on or after 1st September 2004 are eligible to play in the tournament.

Tournament schedule:

13th Sept - Invincibles v Stars (Ground 1); Conquerors v Challengers (Ground 2);

14th Sep – Stars v Conquerors (Ground 1); Challengers v Strikers (Ground 2);

16th Sep – Invincibles v Conquerors (Ground 1); Stars v Strikers (Ground 2)

17th Sep – Invincibles v Strikers (Ground 1); Stars v Challengers (Ground 2);

19th Sep – Conquerors v Strikers (Ground 1); Invincibles v Challengers (Ground 2);

21st Sep – Final

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023