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December 23, 2008
A very mixed 2008
Posted by Urooj Mumtaz at
in Pakistan cricket
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The four captains for the Asia Cup earlier in the year
© Manoj Ridimahaliyadda
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From the highs of qualifying for the ICC Women's World Cup and ICC World Twenty20, it has been frustrating not to continue that success. This was due to some disappointing performances at the Women's Asia Cup and then the cancellation of our home series, due to security fears, which saw both the West Indies and a women's team from Delhi postpone their trips.
Where we should have been able to build on some excellent performances in Stellenbosch, we perhaps haven't been able to move forward quite as quickly as we would have liked.
It has also been a period of change at the PCB and there have been a number of changes to the women's cricket management team in the past couple of months. This has led to a major review of team selection in the past couple of months with everybody playing for their places in the ICC Women's World Cup squad.
Fifty five girls have attended trials this month which were overseen by former Test players Aqib Javed and Ijaz Ahmed, which was a really good experience, and the selectors have now got the squad down to 25 players.
The trials saw us tested in a variety of disciplines to ensure that we can show our quality in all aspects of the game. For example, to demonstrate our batting prowess we had to face the bowling machine at varying different paces and lengths and were instructed to hit the ball between various different targets.
This would see us challenged to hit six consecutive balls that were pitched on a full length outside of off stump to be hit between cover and extra cover. Bowlers then had to show they could consistently bowl in the right places by bowling two overs at a time where each ball had to hit a particular target.
A training camp in Lahore starts on Sunday, at the National Cricket Academy, where we will spend the next month preparing for the ICC Women's World Cup and continue to work on different aspects of our game.
There will be a large focus on fitness and we will be training in both the morning and afternoon which will be extremely tough but it will help us prepare for the tri-series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in January, and the ICC events in 2009.
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| The Contributors |
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Mithali Raj, India's former captain, has been on the international circuit for a decade. In August 2006, she led India to their first-ever Test and series win in England and capped off the year by winning the Asia Cup - the second time in 12 months - without dropping a game. India, under her captaincy, also reached the World Cup final in 2005. Now, as one of the senior members of the side, and the premier batsman, a lot will be riding on her for the two World Cups - 50-over and Twenty20 - that India will play in 2009. |
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Urooj Mumtaz managed to juggle a course in dentistry along with captaining Pakistan. Their most recent triumph was qualifying for the World Cup next year and the 22-year old Urooj will lead a young team to Australia in hope of creating a favourable impression of the Pakistan women's team among the other sides as well as back home. A legspinner, she has a hat-trick against Zimbabwe. |
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Cri-zelda Brits became South Africa’s captain at the age of 23, standing in for Shandre Fritze in the home series against Pakistan in 2007. She followed this by captaining the side to a 3-0 series whitewash against the Netherlands as well as winning the first-ever Test between the two sides by 159 runs. In 2008 she scored her maiden ODI hundred and led South Africa to a spot in the World Cup after beating Pakistan in the Qualifiers final in Stellenbosch. She also coaches the Northwest women's team, based in Potchefstroom, and runs her own academy. |
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Shelley Nitschke combines playing for Australia and her state with working in cricket, as a school officer. A useful spinner, her batting is also worth talking about – she has developed into a handy allrounder. Her major achievements to date are winning the 2005 World Cup, taking 7 for 24 against England in Kidderminster in 2005 and being nominated for the ICC Women's Player of the Year in 2006-07. Although she has played netball, softball and basketball, cricket has always been her stand-out sport. |
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Ebony Rainford-Brent made history as one of eight England players to be handed a Chance to Shine coaching contract, allowing her flexibility around training. A top-order batsman, she fought back from what doctors thought was a career-killing back injury and could one day bowl again – calling her determined is an understatement. She is on the Surrey Academy and her Super 4s side is Diamonds. Proficient in basketball and athletics, she settled for playing cricket … and the drums. |
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Haidee Tiffen has played for New Zealand for more than ten years and is now their captain, having begun her career with Otago Under-21s before heading to Canterbury. She has played representational hockey, basketball and rugby – but cricket is her passion and won out over New Zealand junior hockey. She is particularly proud of winning the World Cup in 2000, reaching the 100-ODI milestone and being skipper. Her experience also includes playing for Sussex for two winters and she was also part of the first female academy in Lincoln. Somehow she also finds time to teach Health and PE at Hillmorton High School. |
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Isobel Joyce,a class bat with a steely mentality, comes from a family full of cricketers - twin sister Cecilia plays alongside her for Ireland and brother Dom for the men’s national team, while another brother, Ed, plays for England and Middlesex. Her first half-century came against a strong New Zealand attack in Dublin in 2004 and her figures of 4 for 20 helped her side beat Scotland by six wickets in the European Championship in 2001, where Ireland won all their three matches. Her 46 against Netherlands in the summer of 2007 helped to maintain her place in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa. She was in outstanding form with both and ball during the tournament, scoring 148 runs at 37 and taking 10 wickets at an average of 7. She ran out five Pakistani players in Ireland's first match, before earning two successive Player-of-the-Match awards against Scotland and then Zimbabwe, against whom she scored 70 and took 4 for 10. She was named captain for their next series, against West Indies, after Heather Whelan pulled out because she was expecting. |
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Nadine George has been a regular for West Indies since her debut in 1999. She first led the side on their tour of Europe in June-July 2008, when West Indies thrashed Ireland and Netherlands while putting up a respectable performance against England. Nadine combines playing for West Indies and her national team, St.Lucia, with her day job as a Sergeant in the Police Marine Unit of the Royal St.Lucia Police Force. A left-hand batsman and wicketkeeper, Nadine says the highlights of her career are receiving an MBE at Buckingham Palace in 2005, being the first West Indies woman cricketer to score a century in a Test (in Pakistan in 2004), playing in the World Cup in South Africa (2005), and playing club cricket in Australia in 2006. Nadine also plays netball and volleyball and loves the marine environment and is passionate about diving. She is a qualified open water diver and during her working hours captains a 65 and 82 ft vessel. Her motto in life is "with hard work and dedication one can achieve". |
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