LAHORE: The six-team National Women’s T20 Tournament 2024 is all set to commence from Monday, (January 15) at three venues in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The tournament will feature six regional teams namely Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Rawalpindi.
The 17-day tournament will see every team play 10 matches, before the top two sides feature in the final on 31st January. The venue of the final will be announced in due course, a PCB spokesman, said.
The double round-robin matches will take place in Rawalpindi’s Ayub Park Ground and Islamabad’s Diamond Cricket Ground and Shoaib Akhtar Stadium.
The National Women’s T20 Tournament 2024 serves a great opportunity for the players to stake a claim in the national team ahead of the busy international year. Pakistan Women are set to feature in at least eight T20Is (five T20Is against West Indies, three T20Is against England) before taking part in the ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup and ICC Women’s T20 World Cup later this year.
The winning team will receive Rs1 million, while the runners-up will get Rs0.5 million. The player of the tournament will be awarded Rs50,000 and player of the match in each game will receive Rs20,000. The tournament’s top performers – best batter, best bowler and best wicket-keeper – will get Rs25,000.
The PCB has also finalised the six squads, which consist of 16 players each. These squads have been selected by the national women’s selection committee headed by former Test cricketer Saleem Jaffar. The squad and team management of the participating teams have been announced.
Moreover, the four-day female umpires’ induction course will take place at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from Saturday (today). The PCB received applications from aspirants in December 2023 as per the criteria where a minimum of intermediate education was mandatory for applicants, except for international players, while the age bracket was kept between 28 to 40 years.
Member of ICC’s Elite panel of Umpires, Ahsan Raza and PCB’s International Umpire Asif Yaqoob will be the instructors of this course. The candidates will be required to undergo a three-day basic training course initially and on the fourth day, a written test, a fitness test and interviews will be conducted.
Successful candidates will be inducted into the PCB Female Panel of Umpires for the next domestic cricket season, which will allow them to officiate Region/District and Club level matches.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024