Women in battle for quadrangular trophy

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Sri Lanka will join Pakistan, Ireland and the Netherlands in a historic women's quadrangular One Day International and Twenty20 cricket tournament which will be worked off from April 23 to 30 in Colombo.

The four teams will play each other on a league basis with the matches to be worked off at Havelock Park, Braybrooke Place, P. Saravanamuttu Oval and NCC ground in Maitland Place.

The official launching ceremony of the women's quadrangular series was held in Colombo with the presence of all four captains, Shashikala Siriwardena (Sri Lanka); Sana Mir (Pakistan); Helmein Rambaldo (the Netherlands) and Ireland's Ciara Metcalfe along with ICC Regional Performance Officer Philip Hudson.

Netherlands captain Helmein Rambaldo thanked the ICC for the training program being conducted by ICC (Europe) Consultant Coaches former England 'A' players Simon Francis and Kelly Evenson and Hudson.

"We would like to thank ICC (Europe) for this week's training program to prepare us for the upcoming series and acclimatize us to the sub-continent conditions while providing extra experience of playing the game in this environment. The past four months we have been training indoors, so it's a great opportunity to be able to play outdoors, especially in the first five days while preparing for the series.

We are happy to be playing in this tournament and are very grateful for the opportunity.

"We would like to thank Ireland, Sri Lanka and Pakistan; it is great to be able to play against full members, as this chance does not arise often," said Rambaldo. Ireland captain Ciara Metcalfe too agreed with Rambaldo. "We would like to thank ICC (Europe) for the opportunity to come to Sri Lanka and compete in the series. We wish everyone the best of luck for the series," stated Metcalfe. Meanwhile Shashikala Siriwardena is looking forward to continue the improvement as a side. "Our friends from Ireland, Netherlands and Pakistan we thank you for accepting our invitation to the tournament," said Siriwardena.

Sana Mir is hopeful this visit will help Pakistan's chances in the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier in November.

"It is my second visit to Sri Lanka, the tournament is really important to us to help prepare for November.

Heading to the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier, it's really important for us to be here and practice with some of the teams that will be in Bangladesh in these Asian conditions, "said Mir. ICC Regional Performance Officer, Philip Hudson thanked SLC as hosts and explained the continuing hard work to develop women's cricket. "On behalf of the ICC, I would like to thank Sri Lanka Cricket for hosting and competing in the series and thank Pakistan for also accepting the invitation to be involved.

"The development of Women's cricket is extremely important as one of the key objectives of the ICC Development Program.

The trip has been made possible through funding from the ICC European Development Program and a women's grant from ICC, all contributing to the funding of Cricket Ireland and the KNCB.

"We are currently undertaken a five-day training program which is extremely important to help prepare the Netherlands and Ireland teams for the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier.

It is highly important to develop women's cricket in events such as these and this is the largest event that women's cricket in Europe has ever seen, so we hope it will be really successful.

"We hope this will be a very successful tour in preparation for the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in November and I wish all four teams the best of luck," concluded Hudson.

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Match schedule

(One Day International series):

April 23- Sri Lanka v Ireland at Colts ground

Pakistan v Netherlands at Moors ground

April 24- Pakistan v Ireland at Colts ground

Sri Lanka v Netherland at SSC ground

April 26- Netherlands v Ireland at Moors ground

Sri Lanka v Pakistan at P. Saravanamuttu Oval

(Twenty20 International tournament):

April 28 Morning - Sri Lanka v Ireland at P. Saravanamuttu Oval

April 28 Evening - Sri Lanka v Netherlands at P. Saravanamuttu Oval

April 28 Morning - Pakistan v Netherlands at NCC ground

April 28 Evening - Pakistan v Ireland at NCC ground

April 29 Morning - Netherlands v Ireland at NCC ground

April 29 Evening - Sri Lanka v Pakistan at NCC ground

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 The teams:

Sri Lanka:

Sashikala Siriwardena (captain), Dilhani Manodara (vice captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Suvini de Alwis, Sandamali Dolawatte, Eshani Lokusuriya, Chamari Polgampola, Deepika Rasangika, Chamari Atapattu, Sripali Weerakkody, Udeshika Prabodini, Shareena Ravikumar, Lasanthi Madushani, Oshadi Ranasinghe.

Pakistan:

Sania Mir (captain), Javeria Wadood, Bismah Maroof, Nida Rashid, Asmavia Iqbal Khokhar, Sana Sana, Syeda Nain Fatima Abidi, Marina Iqbal, Masoona Junaid Farooqi, Kainat Imtiaz, Syeda Batool Fatima Naqvi, Qanita Jalil, Sadia Yousaf, Bibi Nahida.

Ireland:

Ciara Johanna Metcalfe (captain), Clare Mary Alice Shillington, Amy Johanna Kenealy, Eimear Anne Jermyn Richardson, Rebecca Alanna Rolfe, Laura Delany, Shauna Marie Kavanagh, Louise Noreen McCarthy, Kimberley Garath, Mary Veronica Waldron, Emma Louise Flanagan, Laura Cullen, Aisling Gill.

Netherlands:

Helmien Willie Rambaldo (captain), Violet Cornelia Elizabeth Wattenberg, Christine Johanna Erkelens, Laura Brouwers, Marijn Elise Nijman, Danielle Marlose Braat, Miranda Veringmeier, Denise Hennema, Evelien Gerrits, Esther Laura Talitha de Lange, Alarda Catharina Mol, Caroline Marjolijn de Groot, Esther Lanser, Jolet Caroline Hanenhof.