PESHAWAR, May 12 (APP): Preparations for the most talked about and upcoming Women U19 World Cricket Cup and Women Premier Cricket League, a talent-hunt-cum-trials were held here on Thursday, under the aegis of Pakistan Cricket Board.
More than 110 young female cricket aspirants turned up for the day-long trials-cum-
talent conducted with top Pakistani female Level-III coach Hajra Sarwar, who monitored the performance of the players at Maazullah Khan Cricket Academy.
Young female cricket aspirants from Peshawar Region, southern and integrated districts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa enthusiastically went through different sessions including batting, bowling, and fielding.
Cricket Coaches including Hajra Sarwar, a former cricketer, who had her Level-III cricket coaching from Australia; another prominent cricketer and now coach Rehmat Gul, PCB coach and representative Assistant Manager Cricket Development, Sharjeel thoroughly supervised the performance of the players, hailing from far flung areas including Chitral, Dera Ismail Khan, Mohmand District, Khyber District, Swabi, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Charsadda, Nowshera and Malakand Division.
Besides the academy, the trials and talent hunt were also held in Post Graduate College Mardan and at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, where 60 players in Abbottabad and 68 in Mardan turned up, said Sarwar.
She informed that PCB wants to search out new talent at the grassroots level and that’s why it was taking bold steps to conduct talent hunts and trials for short-listing players for the U19, selecting Emerging and Senior teams.
Coach Hajra disclosed that it was good to have a great number of players, who after short-listing would go through rigorous training besides playing trial matches. Hajra shared that the camp would start from next Monday at the same venue under PCB coaching panel in KPK.
She said the trials were conducted accordingly wherein the performance of the players was monitored thoroughly with the aim to give ample opportunities to the female players of KPK to be part of the next national teams in different age group categories.
The cricket coach also appreciated Chairman PCB Rameez Raja for expressing his willingness to have Women PSL, which would certainly be a key step in promoting women cricket in Pakistan, besides providing an opportunity to the Pakistani female cricketers to play side by side with international players on a regular basis.
Hajra Sarwar and Rehmat Gul said through such trials and talent hunt, it would give good opportunities to the upcoming young cricketers to the national level. Hajra Sarwar said that trials have been organized for the women players for the development and promotion of the U19 national cricket team.
The main objective was to select the best team for the U19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa next year, she added.
Rehmat Gul said that trials were conducted in three different age categories including U19, Emerging and Senior categories.
“However, since our province is the winner of various competitions in Pakistan, we are trying to achieve a high position in women’s cricket at the national level,” Gul said, adding that competitions would be organised for them so that they would be given full opportunities to learn and move forward, while at the same time new talent would emerge.
