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By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

For a Muslim nation, women's cricket is better organised and thriving in Pakistan.

The game was first introduced in 1996 by Shaiza Khan and Sharmeen Khan, two girls who studied in England and played for Middlesex and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) when membership was opened for the first time to women in the club's 212-year history in 2000.

They formed the Pakistan Women's Cricket Control Association (PWCCA), a totally independent body and, since that small beginning, they have grown to make tours to New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, India (for the 1997 World Cup) and Sri Lanka where they are on their second tour, having visited us four years ago.

They are fortunate that Sharmeen's father Mohammad Said Khan who runs a lucrative carpet business in Karachi sponsors all these tours.

"We are the largest manufacturers of carpets in Asia and we export a lot of it to UK," said Sharmeen. Last April a team from Holland toured Pakistan and lost a seven-match one-day series 3-4 to the hosts. They remain the only country to tour Pakistan. The Pakistan team of 14 women cricketers arrived yesterday to match their wits in six one-day matches against their Sri Lankan counterparts. The first match takes place at the Colts grounds tomorrow.

"We have the enthusiasm and talent, but what we lack is facilities to get to the top," said Sharmeen Khan, the vice-captain of the team on arrival at Hotel Sapphire yesterday where instead of a four-hour flight from Karachi to Colombo they found themselves travelling for 15 hours via Dubai to Colombo because India has closed their air space.

Sharmeen said that in an effort to promote the game, cricket has been made compulsory in all secondary schools in Pakistan. Presently, there are six teams (3 from Karachi, one each from Punjab and North Western Front Province and a Combined Schools) playing in a national tournament for the Fathima Jinnah trophy. It is the only organised tournament by the PWCCA.

"Initially we had problems trying to contact players and to get girls who want to take to the game. But since we launched our website three years ago (www.womenscricket.com), we had a lot of response and it has made our task much easy," said Sharmeen, who did all the talking to the media in the absence of Shaiza, the captain.

She said that 13-year-old Sajida Shah, an all rounder (top order bat and off-spinner), became the youngest women's cricketer to make her international debut when she played against Ireland at the age of 12 years, 35 days, a feat which has been noted by Wisden.

Although the PWCCA has no connections with the Pakistan Cricket Board, they however have five-man selection committee comprising of past Pakistan Test cricketers to pick their teams. The committee comprises Hanif Mohammad (chairman), Waqar Hassan, Sikhander Bakht, Iqbal Qasim and Sadiq Mohammad.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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