In view of Pakistan’s tour of South Africa next month, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced that the women’s team is all set to attend the training camp from Tuesday. The announcement was made after 26 players and 12 officials tested COVID-19 negative for the second time.
“A player, presently out of the country, and an official will join the camp later in the week after returning the two mandatory negative tests. Separately, a player has been advised a further week’s rest so that she can completely recover after an antibodies test revealed she had recently recuperated from Covid-19,” PCB said in a statement.
The training will be held at Hanif Mohammad High-Performance Centre in Karachi. The women’s national selection committee has invited 26 women cricketers for the same.
On December 14, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had announced that their women’s team will travel to South Africa for a three match ODI series and a three match T20I series. The first ODI and the last two T20Is will be played at Durban, while the last two ODIs and first T20I will be hosted at Pietermaritzburg.
The schedule for the tour is as follows:
| Date | Match | Venue |
| January 20, 2021 | 1st ODI | Durban |
| January 23, 2021 | 2nd ODI | Durban |
| January 26, 2021 | 3rd ODI | Pietermaritzburg |
| January 29, 2021 | 1st T20I | Pietermaritzburg |
| January 31, 2021 | 2nd T20I | Pietermaritzburg |
| February 3, 2021 | 3rd T20I | Durban |
After a long period of 18 months, the two teams will face off against each other. In their previous encounter, which happened in May 2019, Pakistan and South Africa played three ICC Women’s Championship ODIs which ended in a 1-1 draw. While the five-match T20I series was a thrilling contest as South Africa bounced back to win the series 3-2 when they were down 2-1.
“South Africa are ranked above us, both in the ODI and T20I formats and, as such, I am sure this series will go a long way in not only assisting us to further improve our standards but also prepare for June’s ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 as we aim to finish in the top three and progress to event proper in early 2022 in New Zealand,” said Urooj Mumtaz, women’s chief selector and head of the women’s cricket.
This tour will be the first official assignment of head coach David Hemp, who joined in October, and bowling coach Arshad Khan, who was appointed in November. Mohammad Kamran Hussain will be the assistant coach at the training camp.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.