PCB confirms South Africa women’s side to tour Pakistan

F.P. Report

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Friday confirmed that the South Africa women’s cricket team is set to undertake their inaugural tour of Pakistan from August to September this year.

The South African side will participate in three T20Is and three ODIs of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 in Karachi during their tour of Pakistan.

South Africa is set to join the ranks of national women’s teams touring Pakistan, following the visits of West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Ireland. Previously, the West Indies women played three T20Is in Karachi in January 2019, while Sri Lanka and Ireland engaged in ODIs and T20Is in Karachi and Lahore in May and November 2022, respectively.

In March, three Women’s League Exhibition matches held in Rawalpindi featured a total of 11 cricketers from seven countries, including three captains.

The series against South Africa will be all-rounder Nida Dar’s first series as captain. Nida is the one of most experienced players in the country with 99 ODIs and 130 T20Is.

“The next 12 months will be incredibly busy for the Pakistan women’s cricket team and I look forward to the upcoming assignments with excitement and anticipation. These matches will contribute significantly in our endeavours to gain experience and exposure, and narrow gap with the front-runners,” said Dar.

“The busy season will start with the home series against South Africa, which will also be my first series as captain. I am hoping to make it a memorable one for myself by not only completing a century of ODIs, but also assisting the side to collect valuable ICC Women’s Championship points so that we can finish in the upper half of the draw,” she said.

Dar added that in order to achieve this feat, the team will have to play outstandingly well as South Africa is an experienced side that possesses a number of quality players.

“I am extremely excited to be back to play a bilateral series in Pakistan. Having visited Pakistan earlier this year for the women’s league exhibition matches, I was truly impressed by the warm hospitality and the passionate cricket fans. The players were very friendly, it was really great to be there and experience the country,” Suné Luus, who captained South Africa in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 and also featured in the Women’s League Exhibition matches in Rawalpindi, said.

“Pakistan is always a very competitive and dangerous side at their own backyard, so I feel it’s going to be a good series.

“The ODIs being a part of ICC Women’s Championship is very important for women’s cricket, and we all are looking forward to it.”

Pakistan’s schedule in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25: